Stone
by The Fluffy Muffin Queen
Summary: Kagome, to save the last Shikon Shard, turns herself and the shard into stone. An unknown amount of years later, InuYasha's reincarnation reawakens her. What problems will they face? InuKag, Chapter Eleven up!
1. Prolog

_(A/N: Hello again, my dear dear readers!!! It is I The- … Ah, just screw it. I'm back again, with another, nice kick-assy story! Oh ho, is it really, you ask? Why would it be kick-assy, you ask? Especially since all your other stories suck… HEY! –growls- Anywho, its kick-assy 'cause, not only do I SAAAAAAAAAAAY its kick-assy, but because, though I have writers block for almost all of my other stories, I have a good amount of muse due to the four day weekend and the snow day on me birthday! W00T! GO ME!!!!_

… _-ahem- Summery…_

_Kagome is trapped within stone, and InuYasha is killed. What happens when his reincarnation (SHUT UP! I CAN HAVE AS MANY INUYASHA REINCARNATIONS AS I WANT!!!!)accidentally re-awakens her? How will she cope? And how will she explain who she is and how she felt about his incarnation to… what was his name again? Please tell me it isn't Naraku… No? Good… Wait… he's a WHAT NOW!?_

_**Disclaimer:** (To the tune of the Oscar Mayer Weiner song. Why? 'Cause I'm just like that…) Ooooooooooooh, I wish I owned InuYasha, that's what I'd really like to own. But I don't own InuYasha, but if I did everyone would be in love with me! Heh…I'm not on something, I swear… Well… maybe I am, but… That's not the point… The unglompable Rumiko Takahashi owns InuYasha… not me… -tear-_

**Prolog**

"Kagome, stay here!" InuYasha whispered softly, putting the injured teen down by a tree. She swallowed and nodded stiffly, clutching her waist and watched as the hanyou darted away, drawing his sword and falling back into the fray.

She wanted to help, she really did, but Kagome knew she'd only be a burden. All her arrows were spent, and she'd only get in her friends' way, and scare them and hurt them when she fell into danger.

They were fighting Naraku again, but Kagome had a strange feeling that this would be the last time they'd meet up with Naraku. But that strange feeling told her something worse was going to happen… and that Naraku just might come out on top…

She cried out as Miroku fell, dead, and Sango was killed. Shippo was at Kaede's, and Kirara was already injured. All that was left was her and InuYasha, and Kagome couldn't fight…

"Kaze no" InuYasha pulled back Tetsaiga and let loose a Wound of the Wind. "KIZU!"

Naraku laughed behind his barrier. "InuYasha," he said, his voice velvety smooth. It made Kagome want to barf. "You never learn… Your friends were your strength. They were your power. Now, almost all of them are dead. Only little Kagome is alive, and she won't be for very much longer."

A growl rumbled in InuYasha's throat, his amber eyes narrowed in hatred towards the evil half-demon who just laughed in his face. "You… won't… TOUCH HER!" InuYasha cried, slashing at the air where Naraku had been only moments before.

Kagome started. He was standing there, right above her. "INUYASHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! **TASUKETE**!!!!!!!!" she screamed.

He whirled around and swore, charged towards Naraku, but froze as Naraku placed a sword's blade at Kagome's quivering throat.

The evil hanyou turned towards InuYasha, a grin slowly dancing across his lips. "She doesn't have the shard Kohaku had. When I killed him, she took it… and yet it isn't with her… but you… Hand it over, and she shall live. You, however… Well, I have no guarantees about that."

InuYasha's amber eyes moved from Kagome to Naraku. His love for Kagome and second sense to protect her was battling with his longing to become a full fledged demon and to defeat Naraku, keeping him from taking control of the entire Shikon no Tama.

He bit his lip, but slowly slid his hand into the sleeve of his haori. Ignoring Kagome's cry for him to stop and not to give the Shikon no Kakera to him, he extracted the small shard.

Holding it between thumb and forefinger, his tawny eyes narrowed. "Let her go."

Naraku shrugged and took the blade away. Kicking Kagome aside, he took a step forward and extended his hand.

A light shone in Kagome's eyes. '_No,_' a desperate voice whispered in her ear. '_He mustn't get the shard…_'

Leaping up, she grabbed Naraku's arm and pushed all of her purification powers onto him.

Naraku let out a blood curdling scream, falling away into a pile. But he was far from dead.

Kagome sank to her knees, breathing heavily. InuYasha darted to her side, holding her up. "Kagome… Kagome…? Are you ok?" he asked. She smiled and gave a small nod, leaning against him lightly.

"Why, you little… bitch," Naraku hissed, rising to his feet and glaring at Kagome with those dangerous vermillion orbs of his.

Kagome snorted, but didn't shoot anything back at him. Though she had told InuYasha, she was just fine, she was extremely weary. Slipping her hand into InuYasha's, she gave it a gentle squeeze, trying desperately to bring back some hope…

The Shikon no Kakera fell into the hand that was curled around InuYasha's. She didn't notice, but as he let go, she realized it was there.

Looking down at it, she knew she would not survive this battle… and, though her heart cried out at the knowledge of it, nor would InuYasha.

'_There must be some way to protect the last shard,_' her mind told her desperately, and she agreed with it.

Standing, she brought her hands to her chest, shielding the Shikon no Kakera, and muttering words of protection. Both InuYasha and Naraku turned to her, her body emanating a soft white light.

"No, Kagome!" InuYasha cried, lunging forward, but was driven back by a barrier.

Tears slipped down Kagome's eyes and a look of pure pain crossed her face. The look was like an arrow into InuYasha's heart; forever more painful than Kikyo's arrow had been fifty years ago.

Lowering her head, Kagome closed her eyes as she felt her body become the earth, then stone. She couldn't feel her legs now, and though InuYasha begged her to stop, she knew that even if she wanted to, she couldn't.

"I'm sorry, InuYasha," she whispered, opening her eyes partly. "It's the only way… please, forgive me…"

Then, everything went black.


	2. Kagome

**Chapter One**

**Kagome**

Itaru Tanaka yawned, covering his unusually sharp teeth. He brushed his long midnight black hair out of his face and glazed up at the stage with bored yet beautiful sparkling violet eyes.

His father had, for some reason or another, taken him to an auction. Why, he didn't know… Maybe it was something rich fathers did for their sons but…

"Number 48, 'Stone Tears'," the auctioneer said as an antique table, from the Sengoku Jidai, and a beautiful statue was brought up. It was of a young girl, looked to be from maybe late fifteen, early sixteen, her hands clasped over her chest as if protecting something. She wore a school uniform, but it was frayed and, though it was probably just because the stone at certain places looked darker than other places, looked dirty. Her long wavy hair fell gracefully about her face, and her eyes were half open, an indescribable pain mirrored in their carven depths. Also, it looked as though she was crying; thus the name of the statue.

The entire room gave an amazed gasp. Even Itaru was amazed. Whoever had carved her must've been an amazing person, though he felt it a little unnerving that somebody was able to carve such raw emotion from dead stone.

Itaru turned towards his father and whispered, "Chichi-ue," he said, his tone soft. His father nodded and raised his hand. After about half an hour of bidding, the girl was his family's.

Smirking, he fell back in his seat. There was something about the girl… something that made him want the statue to look at and… it was weird, but… protect? He snorted inside, giving a little 'keh' that he'd used since the age of five, something that had driven his parents mad for years.

'_Protect? A statue? Maybe Shigeatsu is right… maybe you really ARE going insane…_' The thought of his older brother distracted him as he thought of many very colorful (usually red and dark crimson) ways of killing the arrogant jerk-off for the rest of the boring auction.

* * *

The room slowly thinned out, and Itaru made his way to the room where they kept everything that had been sold.

As soon as he closed the door, he looked around the room for her. There she was, nestled between a mirror that was covered with a dirty white blanket, and the table from earlier.

He slowly made he way towards her, wading through the sold merchandise and ancient artifacts until he stood in front of her, looking up into those sad eyes. She was raised on a rock, but it didn't look to be part of the original statue.

"Why are you so sad?" he asked, then paused. "Ok, that's it… I AM going insane… Damn… looks like I owe Shigeatsu fifty bucks… I thought I'd keep my sanity for another twenty years…"

The nineteen-year-old shook his head, his long black hair falling about him. Then, he reached up and stroked the girl's cheeks, running his thumb over the tear marks. It hurt his heart that she was so sad… just standing there, holding her heart –or so he presumed- and crying.

He pulled his hand away and rubbed his thumb on his forefinger.

It was wet.

Looking down, he saw what appeared to be water on his thumb. Something shot down from the head of the statue and he looked down. More tears were falling onto the dirty dusty ground.

A slight whimper came from above him and he looked up. The girl's eyes were now fully closed and the grey color was fading to reveal actual, if not dirty, colors. Her school uniform was green, her shirt white, and a red ascot tied under-

She fell to her knees, pulling her hand away, her right still clamped firmly in a fist, her left opening so she could cradle her head as sobs racked her shoulders.

"Oh, kami," Itaru whispered, taking a step back.

The girl looked up, her eyes opening to reveal sad, puffy, but beautiful chocolate orbs, shining with still unshed tears. They held a wisdom beyond her years within them, and spoke of horrors he could only imagine that she had seen with her own two eyes. Of love, betrayal, sadness, fear, excitement… So many emotions were shining in those two beautiful eyes…

"InuYasha…?"

He started. A soft, shaky voice had whispered a name. Dog demon…? What the hell kind of name was that…

"InuYasha… is it really you?"

Before he could do anything, the girl had launched herself at him and held him in an unforgiving hug. Within the space of three seconds, she had let go of the hug and had entwined her fingers in Itaru's read sweatshirt, bawling her eyes out against him. "Oh InuYasha… I was so scared… I'm so sorry… so sorry… I had too… If I didn't, Naraku might've taken the shard, and then who knows what would've happened! I'm so sorry…"

She kept on repeating how sorry she was and shouting names he had never heard of before.

"Um… listen… lady…" Itaru said, uncertainly, prying the girl's fingers from his shirt. "Whoever this InuYasha is… I'm not him…"

The girl sniffed and stared at him. "But… you look just like him… when he's in his human form, of course."

She gave a small, watery laugh. "You don't exactly have claws… or fangs… or silver hair… or golden eyes or dog ears or anything…"

She pulled away and shook her head. "Wait… but this is all wrong! IT'S ALL WRONG!" she was shouting, and Itaru had absolutely NO idea why…

The girl had sunk to her knees, still cradling something in her right hand, and swaying slightly as she held herself.

Her clothes were still ripped, still torn, and dirtied, but to Itaru's surprise, they were bloody also. He had always lived a sheltered life, and hadn't really seen as much blood as was on her.

The girl suddenly jumped up, a look of fear and desperation on her face. "What year is it?" she demanded, staring in what could only be described as fear at Itaru.

"Na-Nani?" he asked, taking a step back at the fire in his eyes.

"What _YEAR_ is it?" she asked, advancing on him.

"Um… 2-2007," he stuttered, staring fixated at the girl whose eyes widened as she took a step back, clutching her heart and looking away.

"2007… 2007… not 1993… not the Sengoku Jidai… but 2007… I should've been 31 this August," she whispered, falling to her knees yet again.

Itaru took a step towards her. Time for answers. "Um… miss… What's your name?"

"Higurashi Kagome," she whispered, still staring at nothing.

"Kagome…? OK… Kagome-san, um… if you don't mind me asking… how'd you become a statue?"

Kagome slowly lifted up her right hand. The knuckles were white since she was clutching it into a fist, and blood was slowly slipping out of it. Her nails had dug into her skin.

Itaru flinched slightly, but watched, amazed, as she slowly opened her hand, revealing a sparkling sliver of a gem in her palm. "I used what was left of my miko powers to turn myself into a statue… to protect this…" she whispered, raw pain cutting through Itaru's heart like a knife.

"And… who's InuYasha…?"

Kagome turned back towards Itaru, tears slowly slipping down her cheeks again. "I… I think he's… he's… dead…." she whispered, her lower lip quivering. He didn't know what she thought next…

'_But then… is this guy… his reincarnation…?_'


	3. Old Wounds

**Chapter Two**

**Old Wounds**

It felt like the world was falling about Kagome's ears. It was hell… and nobody was there to make her feel better except for a poor kid who had no idea what on earth was going on…

She slowly stood on watery legs, swaying slightly, as she gazed at him. '_Deep breaths,_' she told herself, taking shuddering, half breaths of those she had told herself to take.

Then, she shot out the door, bursting into a room full of rich old men. Itaru was hot on her heels, but he didn't have the two hundred or so years of being a hanyou anymore, no less the hanyou strength his incarnation had. While Kagome has spent a good year or so running from yokai almost everyday! Who do _you_ think would win this one?

Kagome shot ahead of him, shooting out the front door and pausing to gather her surroundings. Things had changed… really changed…

Biting back tears, she whirled around a corner past a WacDonalds and around another corner. She smiled grimly; she knew this street. This was the street leading to her shrine that her friends had walked with her over a decade ago… or over five hundred years ago, whichever way you put it, and whichever group of friends you choose.

Without even pausing, she shot up the stair of Sunset Shrine and reached the top, gasping for air. Tears freely fell down her face as she burst into the well house, still holding the Shikon no Kakera in her right hand. Using the side of the well, she lifted herself over the side and fell though nothingness until she landed painfully at the bottom of the dry well. Kagome's knees buckled under her and she clutched at her shoulders, shaking her head. "InuYasha… Sango-chan… Miroku-sama… Shippo-chan… Kirara… Onegai… don't leave me…"

She fell back and leaned against the side of the well, her shoulders shaking as sobs racked her delicate frame. The sound of footsteps went unnoticed by Kagome as she continued to cry.

Itaru looked around, unsure of where the sound of heart-wrenching sobs was coming from. Finally, he looked over the side of the well to find the poor teen, sobbing and shaking her head.

"Hey, Kagome-san… please… don't cry…"

She looked up, her cheeks streaked with tears and her eyes blood shot. Yet, even through that, she was still extremely pretty. Itaru didn't fail to notice that, but shook the thought away.

Jumping down, he swayed slightly but just barely managed to stay on his feet. Extending a smooth hand towards her, he smiled. She gave a half sob, half giggle and shot towards him, engulfing him in a bone breaking hug. Blushing slightly, he patted her back awkwardly. "Um… so… feeling better now?"

Kagome pulled away and nodded slightly, her brown eyes sparkling slightly. Standing, she looked for the staircase that had been built for her purpose. Finally finding them, she began to climb them, but paused when Itaru wasn't following her.

Turning, her brows knitted together in confusion. "Is something wrong?" she asked, her voice horse from crying.

Itaru shook his head. "No… not really, but…" He took a deep breath, not wanting the poor girl to begin crying again, but wanting to know why she… "Why did you come crashing into an old Shinto shrine and jump into an old dry well… probably older than the shrine."

Kagome snorted and sat down on the steps which groaned under her weight, unused to anything standing on them.

"It's… ah… A long story… But, no doubt when we're away from my family's shrine, I can tell you."

"Oh, ok- Hey, wait… _YOUR _family shrine? Sunset Shrine's family, at this point, doesn't have anybody your age…"

She quirked an eyebrow. He shrugged. "My family knows the Higurashis pretty well…"

Kagome looked away and didn't speak for a long time. When she did, her voice was raw with emotion and pain. "Did they have a young girl in the family years ago named Kagome Higurashi?"

He blenched. He knew the story really well… "Uh… yeah. She died, like… over a decade ago. Hit by a truck."

Kagome chocked back a sob. "Jii-chan was never good at coming up with my illnesses, but… I guess he came up with a really good death for me… seeing as they didn't know what happened to me…"

"WAIT!" Itaru cried, holding up his hands and waving them slightly. "What ARE you talking about!? _YOU_ CAN'T be _HER_!!!!! I mean… she… died-"

Kagome whirled around. "I just broke from a five hundred year old statue and jumped down an old dry well!!!! I'm surprised you aren't seeing yokai jump out at you from every corner!"

He smirked. "Yokai don't exist!" he said smugly, crossing his arms and cocking his hip to the side.

She laughed at him.

In his face.

Itaru could almost see her tonsils. THAT was how much she was laughing at him. A.k.a., pretty much, a LOT!

"Shows how much YOU know!"

He bristled, his eyes narrowing. "Oh, really? Well then, would you CARE to explain HOW yokai exist and nobody knows about them?"

Kagome shook her head. "Listen up you," she growled, taking control of the situation. "I have a feeling you're the incarnation of one of my old friends; a hanyou from five hundred years ago. This well, the one we're in, was, or is, a time portal. I used to be able to jump in and it'd spit me out five hundred years into the past. Five hundred years ago, yokai were EVERYWHERE! Some were good, some were… not so good. Between the yokai and the humans, there was little love, but when a yokai and a human fell in love and had a child, a hanyou was born. Of course, they were despised. My friend, InuYasha, was the son of a great yokai lord and a human princess. YOU are his reincarnation!"

Itaru took a step back. Was this woman INSANE!? _He_ couldn't be a reincarnation.

"Re-really?" he asked, taking a step forward and narrowing his violet eyes. "And how do you know!?"

She shrugged. "You look exactly like him, talk, for the most part, like him, and your aura, besides having no yoki, is the same."

He blinked. Then, shook his head. THIS one would get 'er! "Oh, and how much do YOU know of reincarnations!?"

Kagome turned back to him, a sad look in her eyes. Itaru felt bad; he hadn't meant to make her SAD! Just… wanted to stump her and prove that he was him: Itaru Tanaka, the second son of the leader of Tanaka Inc., the most prominent business in Japan!

"Because _I_'m the reincarnation of a miko; Kikyo."

Turning, she climbed the stairs quickly, leaving Itaru staring at where she had been only a moment before. How… how could this've happened? I mean… the day BEGAN normal! Shigeatsu had woken him up along with Reika and their little sister, the youngest, Remi, shouting in his ears. Reika was attempted to pain his nails, being the annoying eldest sister she was, Shigeatsu had shouted at him, and Remi had brawled in his ears. None of these, how ever annoying, was out of the ordinary. Then, halfway through the day, his father had decided to drag his second youngest son to an auction, and from there, everything went WEIRD!

Rubbing his temples, he finally climbed out of the well. This was certainly going to be an… interesting day, ne?

* * *

"Ok, so let me get this straight," Itaru growled as Kagome followed closely behind him, eyeing her spacious surroundings with awe. "_You_ fell through a well when you were fourteen-"

"Fifteen," she correctly, narrowing her eyes at him dangerous.

"Right, fifteen. You fell through a well when you were fifteen and found a centipede yokai had pulled you through. When you finally broke away and climbed out of the well, you were in the Sengoku Jidai. You released my incarnation, and you accidentally blew up a precious jewel, the Shikon no Tama. A couple of years later, you're fighting your arch enemy or whatever the hell he is, and to keep him from getting the entire jewel, you turn yourself into stone. And that's where, for you, it stops? Right?"

She nodded as a maid scuttled by. They were back in Itaru's home. It was a huge mansion, and the last time Kagome had been in a place this big, twelve yokai were attempting to chop her head off! Not exactly the best of places to be in. Luckily, InuYasha had broken through the barrier they had erected and he, Sango, and Miroku had saved her.

"HeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo???????????" Itaru called, waving his hand in front of Kagome's face. "Earth to Kagome here!"

She jumped and blushed furiously. Apparently… he had been talking. "Ah, gomen, gomen ne ja!" she murmured, smiling.

He shook his head but continued to walk towards his room. "As I was saying, we're having guests. A representative of a _REALLY_ prominent business man… he can intimidate ANY one! He's named after an ancestor of his… but the representative isn't. What was his name again…? Ah, yeah, now I remember! Shigeru Kai."

Kagome nodded, staring off into space. All of this had gone through one ear and out the other. "So, I'm guessing I'll have to be gone by then?" she asked, still not looking at Itaru.

He laughed slightly. "No, not really… Just telling you so you don't get freaked out by the door bell… You know what a door bell is, right?"

Itaru, that day, got the most dangerous glare he had ever gotten in his life… including the time he decided it would be fun to shave Reika's head…

He just barely caught the "Yeah, I know what a door bell is you-" before the door bell rang.

"Ah, that MUST be him!" he said, smiling and half running to the door. '_Hallelujah, saved by the bell!_' he thought joyfully, reaching the door and opening.

"Konban wa, Kai-san," he said, bowing respectfully.

Before the young boy stood a man who looked to be in his fifties, silver hairs flowing along his dulled red ones. Tired but ever-cheerful emerald eyes sparkled as he stepped into the house, bowing to Itaru. His crisp business suit was grey, white stripes running vertically along it. His shiny black shoes clicked as he turned away and bowed to the person he knew was there, though he hadn't bothered to look her in the face. His tie fell out slightly, a deep ocean blue and emerald leaves flashing slightly.

Kagome didn't bow. She couldn't. As he rose, he started and took a step back, though emerald eyes, the emerald eyes that had helped made her laugh so many times in the Sengoku Jidai, pinning her against the wall. Questions swirled behind them, but she had to make sure it was him… even if there was no doubt, not even the tiniest sliver of doubt, left in the farthest reaches of her mind.

"Shi-Shippo-chan?"


	4. Old Friends

**Chapter Three**

**Old Friends**

"Shippo-chan?" Kagome asked again, her eyes wide with surprise and amazement. Could it really be Shippo…?

"Kagome?" he asked in return. His young, boyish voice, the voice Kagome still remembered so well, was now lower, and slightly husky. "Kagome… is that _REALLY_ _you_?"

She nodded and stood stock still before throwing herself at him and flinging her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Tears slowly trickled down her cheeks as he hugged her back, just as fiercely.

"Oh, _KAMI_ Shippo! You have no idea how good it is to see a familiar face! Everything's happened so fast!"

She pulled away and stared Shippo in the face. The moment their eyes locked, he knew what she was going to ask. Adverting his eyes, he turned his face to the floor.

"Shippo-chan… what happened? What happened after I was turned into stone? Did InuYasha…" She swallowed. The pain had built up in her throat, making it constrict and close painfully. "Did InuYasha… _really_… die?"

He finally looked up, his emerald eyes glazed over with indescribable pain. He wouldn't tell her… he couldn't tell her… but he had to. At the very least, he wouldn't tell her the entire truth.

-Flashback-

_Shippo ran ahead of Kaede, looking around wildly for Kagome or InuYasha or Sango or Miroku. Hell… even Kirara would be a comforting creature right about now…_

_He jumped as a groan escaped a red figure, slumped to the ground. Shippo gasped and launched himself forward, resorting to using all fours to get him to the figure faster._

_InuYasha lay there, his eyes full of pain, his body bloodied and beaten up. Shippo stopped by his side, his eyes filling with tears. "InuYasha…" he whispered, his tiny hand touching InuYasha's arm._

_The hanyou groaned again and turned to face Shippo. A small smile broke across his face. "Keh… I think I'd rather die than with you here brat, but as I was hopin' someone would come along so I wouldn't be alone… Beggars can't be choosers…" he said, but the harsh words were full of love, and Shippo knew that, in his own special way, he was thinking Shippo and telling him how much he meant to the hanyou._

"_InuYasha… we have to treat your wounds… I doubt I've ever seen-"_

_The hanyou looked away, tilting his head so that his bangs covered his golden eyes. "No… Either way… I'll die…"_

_InuYasha's teeth clenched together as if biting away the pain would help. "Anyways… why should I live? Kagome… She's…she's…"_

_Shippo gasped. He looked around. A statue of Kagome stood not to far away, tears trailing down its cheeks and her hands clasped over her breast. Then, it struck him… it wasn't a statue **of** Kagome… it **was** Kagome…and InuYasha was to scared to admit it that she was as good as dead…_

_He turned back to Shippo, tears trailing down his cheeks. "Shippo… I didn't get to tell her I love her… If you live long enough to see her… please… tell her… for… me." With that, the hanyou's last breath left his battered lungs._

_Shippo sniffled loudly, closing his eyes and taking in shattered breaths. He'd mourn all night for his hanyou friend… the man who had been his hero._

'And,_' he vowed, balling his fists in InuYasha's haori. '_I'll tell Kagome… I'll live long enough, no matter what!_'_

The next day, when they returned from placing InuYasha under the Goshinboku, Kagome was gone.

"Shippo…?"

Kagome's voice wrenched the kitsune out of his memories. Swallowing past the bile that was threatening to rise, he whispered in a raspy voice, "Hai, Kagome… I'm sorry… but he is dead… He's been dead for five hundred years now…"

The young school girl took a step back, reeling in shock. True, she had known it all along; you don't get a reincarnation without dieing, after all, and Itaru was just too much like InuYasha to ignore, but to hear it from somebody else's mouth… to hear the worlds the felt like an arrow or dagger shot or stabbed right where her heart should still be beating…

For somebody else to say it made InuYasha's death more than a dream; it made it real.

Her knees gave way and Kagome slumped to the floor, her fingers curling up, holding the sleeves of her school uniform as she hugged herself. Unwanted tears slowly slipped down her cheeks as she whispered, "I guess he's with Kikyo now… just like he always wanted to be."

Shippo gave a feral growl and knelt by the young girl, hugging her unlike he had ever hugged her before. This hug was more to comfort her than him; more to share the pain, the loss, the fear.

"Don't say that… don't every say that… Before InuYasha died… he asked me to tell you that he loved you… He didn't say it, but I can tell he loved you more than he ever loved Kikyo… He _trusted_ you… and he wouldn't want you crying… Remember? He always hated it when you cried…?"

Kagome gave a weak little chuckle; the sound was watery and more of a soft sob than an actual chuckle.

Wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand, she managed to rasp, "And what of Naraku? I mean… did you defeat him? And Sango-chan? Miroku-sama? Kirara? Kaede-obaachan? What about them? What happened to them?"

Shippo frowned and looked away. "Sango and Miroku died the day you became stone and InuYasha died. Kirara recovered and is still alive, but her back leg was left lame. Kaede died a few years later…"

"And Naraku?" Kagome asked again.

"He's still out there… but unlike five hundred years ago, we can't just barge in and kill him…"

Kagome groaned and leaned away, falling back onto her rump. "My life seriously sucks… I guess I'm never gonna be normal, huh?" she asked, chuckling and continuing to wipe some stray tears away.

Shippo smirked. "You fought demons every day, fell in love with a hanyou, saved the world multiple times, and jumped through time and space through an old well. What do YOU think?"

Itaru cleared his throat and both of them jumped. "So… you really _DID_ jump through the well into the Sengoku Jidai?" he asked, narrowing his violet eyes in thought. Could… could what she had said _really_ have been true? Shigeru Kai was known throughout the business world for his level-headedness, and for his calm demeanor, much like his boss. But… if he was a demon… then could there be more demons in this era… and be as real as humans?

Stories of man eating yokai, blood thirsty brutes that massacred whole kingdoms and still couldn't contain their need for human blood and flesh, raping, pillaging, and murdering innocents filled his mind and he wanted it all to stop.

'_But,_' a small voice spoke in the back of his head, bringing him back to reality. '_Kai-san is hardly… evil looking, and your family's had him over for over a hundred visits, and he's a really decent guy!_'

It was true; Kai-san had come over lodes of times and had hardly killed a single fly or eaten Itaru's baby sister…

"I think you two need to explain to me everything if I'm gonna help you. That's what you told me Kagome-san, right? That I might have to finish what this InuYasha guy started? Well then, what happened? I think I have a right to know."

Kagome stood and nodded. "Of course. Shippo-chan… I believe you're here for a dinner. Meet me upstairs in Itaru-kun's room after dinner; the story should probably last longer than that."

The soft muffled sound of footsteps made Kagome turn. A small toddler was rubbing her eyes as she gazed up at her. Turning to her brother, she mumbled in a soft voice that reminded Kagome so much of Ai, "Itaru-onii-chan? Who is she?"

Kagome knelt down again, falling down to eyelevel with the young girl. "I'm Kagome. You can call me Kagome-chan or Kagome-nee-chan."

The little girl who looked and sounded like Ai nodded and smiled toothily up at Kagome. Itaru coughed and stepped forward. "Kagome-san, this is Remi, my youngest sister. Shigeatsu-onii-san and Reika-chan, my brother and sister, should be-"

"_Elder_ brother, Itaru," came a low voice as a young man slowly walked down the stairs. He gazed fixated at Kagome, who shifted slightly. He looked so much like Miroku but…

Somebody was suddenly gripping her hands and kissing her right on her vein. Blushing, she attempted to pull her hand out, but the boy held it firmly. He looked no older than seventeen…

His bright violet eyes rose to meet hers as he said in a silky smooth voice, "My, I doubt I have ever seen a more beautiful girl in the world… Would you mind terrible if we both skipped dinner and spent the night in my room… minus the-"

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENTAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kagome screamed, her hand shooting out and slapping him right on the cheek, making him let go of her hands and real back, landing in a rather crumpled heap. His head lifted up and he managed an "I'll take that as a 'no', shall I?" before falling back.

Kagome fumed silently, the fires of hell rising behind her just for that one moment… Itaru, Remi, and Shippo moved away from her. The boy was to close to unconsciousness to realize that he was in mortal peril.

"THERE IS A YOUNG CHILD IN THE ROOM YOU PERVERT!!!!" Kagome screamed, her voice bouncing off the walls. Shippo smirked, remembering a time Kagome had sat InuYasha in a cave, and the reverberations had made him sink slowly into the ground, even when Kagome had stood there in pure and utter shock. He hadn't been able to move for _quite_ a while…

He was brought out of his reminiscing by the appearance of a young girl, her long black hair hanging loosely about her shoulders. Her raven locks made her face seem even paler, but her sapphire eyes twinkled in merriment. She wore a nice baby blue dress, accenting her body, but not making her look slutty. Kagome shifted uncomfortably, her anger ebbing away for a moment before a hand 'accidentally' found its way to her rear end.

Going stiff, her eyes narrowed dangerously and found the boy again. Raising her fist, he hit him over the head and turned huffily back to Shippo. "Shippo-chan… Why the _heck_ is Miroku-sama's reincarnation Itaru-kun's brother? AND WHY DIDN'T HIS DISGUSTING HABITS GO AWAY!? MIROKU-SAMA SAID THAT IT WAS A TRAIT HIS FATHER GAVE HIM!!!!!"

Shippo smirked. "Miroku's spirit must've retained certain… as you said _quite_ loudly enough, habits. I suppose groping random woman was one of them… though Shigeatsu _was_ doing just fine for a while… He hasn't had to go to the hospital in _quite_ some time…"

Kagome snorted and crossed her arms. "Yeah… but at first I was thinking he was Sesshomaru-sama's reincar-"

Shippo was laughing suddenly and Kagome, Shigeatsu, Itaru, Remi, and the girl froze. "Uh… Kai-san…?" the girl said, scooting closer to him. Shippo was leaning against a pillar, still laughing so hard he was crying.

"Shi-Shi-Shigeatsu… Sessh-Sesshomaru's reincarnation! I can't wait to hear what he says about that!"

Kagome froze. What? "Shippo-chan…?" she said sweetly, moving closer. The laughing stopped. He knew what was coming.

"Oh crap. Well Kagome, it was nice seeing you and-"

She grabbed him by the back of his suit. "Shippo-chan… You aren't saying that Sesshomaru-sama is still… _alive_?"

He nodded.

"And no doubt he hasn't forgotten my… aiming-at-him-and-trying-to-kill-him problem, has he?"

He shook his head.

Kagome dropped him. "Well, I'm screwed."

"This Sesshomaru would highly doubt that, miko," came a cold voice from behind her. Could this day get any weirder? Why not just send the old gang back, along with Naraku and Kikyo, in puffy wine colored dresses to do the cancan why don'ch ya?

_(A/N: Hm… InuYasha in a dress doing the cancan… -goes glassy eyed for a minute then falls back, covering eyes- MY EYES!!!!!!! IT _BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURNS


	5. Explanations, At Last! And Another Face

**Chapter Four**

**Explanations, At Last! And Another Reincarnated Face**

'_Oh crap._'

That was all she could think of. And, if truth be told, it seemed to fit the bill pretty well…

Kagome took a deep breath, her eyes closing slowly, and let it out in a gentle sigh. Ok… countdown to the end of her life… starting… now.

Turning slowly around, she let the last of her breath escape her lips as her shoulders slumped. Yep… it was Sesshomaru all right…

There stood the demon lord, in all his… Was he wearing a TIE!?

Yes, yes he was. Sesshomaru, surprisingly enough, was wearing a suit. The dark sapphire color accented his features quite nicely, and hung loosely around his form. It actually looked… kinda… dare Kagome think it, _attractive_ on him. Even though it wasn't heart-stopping and Kagome was hardly about to fall in love with her hanyou's elder brother, she had a feeling Sesshomaru knew how to dress…

He wore a shimmering silver tie out of what appeared to be his old kimono's silk. Though Kagome doubted it was actually _cut_ from the outfit he wore in the Sengoku Jidai, she was pretty sure he made sure to make it look like that.

Kagome finally reached his face. And blenched. No demon markings, no moon, no golden eyes, and no make-up! WHAT THE HELL!?

"Se-Sesshomaru-sama?" Kagome stuttered, blinking stupidly. His face was smooth and still a paleish yet healthy looking color. Yet now, there were no piercing yet emotionless cold amber eyes, nor magenta or vermillion stripes or indigo quarter moon upon his cheeks or forehead, or pure white hair that framed his face; the face of royalty. Now, there was only smooth skin, surrounded by the deepest shade of ebony, and dark murky eyes. The color was half way between a brown, and a violet.

A cold smile spread across Sesshomaru's face and he dipped his head, a curtain of obsidian hair cascading past his shoulder. "Miko-sama," he said coolly.

Kagome swallowed. Sesshomaru didn't smile… unless he was about to kill you and was more than indifferent about it… or was about to get something he wanted… and usually that involved death… _your _death…

Taking a deep breath, Kagome shook her head. "Well… if anybody was gonna survive five hundred years, I guess it'd be you, wouldn't it?"

Sesshomaru's eyebrows receded into his bangs as he raised them, a look of surprise etched across his once emotionless face. "Oh? And if I wasn't one to survive for less than half of my life the last time we met, why am I standing here, ningen?"

She rolled her eyes. Apparently, nothing every changed… Sesshomaru least of all…

* * *

It was after dinner, and Kagome, Sesshomaru, Shippo, Shigeatsu, Itaru, and the girl who Kagome later learned was Itaru's and Shigeatsu's sister, Reika, were sitting in Itaru's bedroom. Kagome had been worried it would've been cramp, but she should've known it would be the size of a prince's bedroom… The manor should've been a tip-off.

"So…" Reika said uncertainly after Kagome, Sesshomaru, Shippo, and Itaru had told everything that had happened, Kagome, Sesshomaru, and Shippo talking about the dealings of five hundred years ago, Kagome and Itaru telling what had happened earlier that day. "So," she began again, looking at Kagome. "Sesshomaru-sama and Kai-shi are… yokai?" Kagome nodded. "And you're from 1993 or 1994… and used to jump down an old dry well to gather the shards of a sacred jewel, that you blew up in the first place, with a hanyou, monk, demon slayer, and two yokai, one of which is here right now, and two of which their reincarnations are my brothers, and you've been trapped in stone for the past five centuries?" Kagome nodded, watching as Reika's slightly blue face flushed. "And you want us to do what again?"

Kagome took a deep breath. "Well… Naraku, the hanyou Shippo, Sesshomaru, and I told you guys about, well, he's still alive, and unfortunately, well. He just might still try and take over the world, the only thing keeping him from doing so is the fact that he doesn't have the complete Shikon no Tama, seeing as if he shattered me while I was in stone, I made sure he'd shatter the shard into fine powder thanks to what was left of my miko powers, or the powers I used to turn myself into stone would come out and purify him _AND_ the jewel, a nice little thing Kaede-obachan taught me."

"But that still doesn't explain what you want with us," Shigeatsu said suddenly, playing with the monk's staff, the Shakujo his incarnation had kept with him at all times, that Shippo had given to him, saying that it was more his than anybody else's.

Kagome sighed. "Your and Itaru's incarnations," she swallowed, closing her eyes and Itaru felt extremely bad for her, but with a slight pang of jealously for the dog half-demon. She sighed and finished her sentence. "Died attempting to defeat Naraku! Naraku has killed, no doubt after five hundred years, _thousands_ if not _millions_," Sesshomaru snorted (she was, no doubt, exaggerating to get them to come along!), "and you're willing to let him to let him live!?"

Shigeatsu blinked, but sighed and shook his head. "No, I don't, Kagome-san. I just need to know more about a cause before I go… running into it," he said levelly, no hint of anger in his voice.

Kagome nodded and turned to Itaru. "What about you, Itaru-kun? Is there anything you're uneasy about…?"

He shrugged. "I donno if we should… I mean… this is the 21st century! It was different in the Sengoku Jidai, where you could've just run around killing people… but you should know that you just can't kill a prominent business man!"

Her shoulders sank, and Itaru almost flinched at the heart-wrenching look she gave him. "You're more different from InuYasha than I thought…" she sighed, standing and walking away. He also stood to go after her, but Shippo placed a hand on his chest, emerald eyes sparkling with sympathy at him.

"It's ok… You need to remember, she and InuYasha were extremely close, and she was practically forced to give it all up for a cause you don't want to follow… and to her, InuYasha's been dead for almost half a day, not five hundred years. It's got to hurt, and unlike InuYasha and Kikyo, they left on good terms." '_Not to mention he loved her more than he did Kikyo,_' Shippo thought, letting his hand fall, his gaze turned to the door Kagome had left through.

* * *

Kagome had finally found a porch and gazed out over Tokyo, tears slowly streaking her cheeks. She had distracted herself with Itaru's family, meeting them, and telling them what happened, and with seeing Sesshomaru and Shippo again… but now she was alone…

'_He's dead,_' she thought, more tears following the wet trail that slowly fell onto the back of her hand as the sunset stretched out over the sky. '_He's dead… He's been dead for five hundred years… and I never told him I loved him… and now he has a reincarnation…_'

Her shoulders shook with suppressed sobs, holding her face, her fingers curling into her obsidian hair.

"Hey," a voice called, and Kagome looked up. She blinked, and gaped.

There stood a young girl, maybe in her late teens, with long brown hair tied in a low pony tail, the end of which was hanging over the side of her shoulder as she bent down to look at Kagome. She wore a pink hot top and dark blue jeans, and her brown eyes sparkled with worry. Kagome smiled bitterly up at yet another reincarnation. It made her wonder if souls didn't get reincarnated after five hundred years or something…

Sniffing, Kagome whipped away some more tears with the heel of her hand. "Hey," she muttered as the girl took a seat on the bench next to her.

She stared at Kagome for a while before saying, "Are you ok?"

Kagome shook her head slightly. "No, not really… but it's nothing you can do anything about…" Even in her reincarnation, Kagome was willing to open up to her more than to anybody else.

The girl pursed her lips, obviously not happy with the idea of being unable to help. "Well… then I'll just have to sit around and make you happy…"

Kagome smiled. She had hoped the girl would say that. "Kagome desu," she said, smiling. "What's your name?"

The girl smiled back. "Hanaka."

Definitely different from Sango… but so was the name Kagome from Kikyo, and Itaru from InuYasha… and Shigeatsu from Miroku…

"So… why were you crying?" Hanaka ventured.

Kagome sighed. "I just found out somebody I cared about is dead."

Hanaka's brow furrowed in sympathy. "And how long has he or she been dead."

Here it was… "Er… He's been dead for… um… five hundred years…?"

There was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG pause… It was the kind of pause that made you think 'Oh dear, was I talking to myself here, or did that person really exist?'

Then…

"What?"

Kagome turned back to Hanaka and smiled, though no warmth was held in it. "The guy I was talking about has been dead for five hundred years."

Hanaka shifted uncomfortably. Kagome noticed that she had shifted _away_ from her. '_She probably thinks I'm a mad woman,_' she thought. '_But then again… who could blame her…? Still… I'm not about to lie to her…_'

"And you know him…… how?"

Kagome sighed. Here was the real kicker… "Because I used to transcend time and space to go five hundred years back to the feudal era, and I've used my miko powers and made myself stone for those five centuries and his reincarnation is inside."

Hanaka blinked and stood up. "Well… I'll be off then, so sayonar-"

"WAIT!" Kagome cried, grabbing hold of Hanaka's wrist. The girl stiffened, and Kagome felt a wave of despair sweep through her. "I _know_ how insane I sound, and I _know_ that it should be impossible, but spending…" she paused and thought hard about how long she had spent demon slaying, "about a year, year and a half, destroying yokai bent on ruling the world, fall in love with a half demon, find out I'm a _miko_, meet my _incarnation_… After all that, you begin to believe in everything…" She swallowed. "Thing is… one of the traveling companions I knew… a yokai taijiya named Sango…"

Her voice trailed off as the sliding shoji door behind her slid shut and the voice of Shippo reached her. "Kagome, I think we-" he paused, and Kagome turned to smile at him. A bigger grin spread across her face when she saw he had his fox tail out, though it was longer and sleeker, with a white tuft at the end, then she remembered from the little kit she had played mother and older sister too.

"Shippo-chan, this is Hanaka…"

Shippo dipped his head to Hanaka and, still without taking his eyes off her, said in a low voice, "Kagome-chan… you, _do_,realize that she might be-"

"Sango-chan's reincarnation? Yeah, I got a pretty good idea," Kagome said, rolling her eyes. "She _WAS_ like a sister to me, after all! I'd know her face anywhere!"

Kagome looked back to Hanaka, whose brown eyes were sweeping from Kagome, to Shippo, to Shippo's tail, and back again. "Ok…" she muttered, shaking her head. "I think I need an explanation…"

_(A/N: So here's Sango's reincarnation, like many of you guys were clamoring for when we met Shigeatsu! --. I hope you guys like this chapter! Over an' out!_

_The Kikyo Hater)_


	6. Hanaka

**Chapter Five**

**Hanaka**

_(A/N: Sorry that it took so long to update this. Right now, my life has taken a turn for the worst. Leonardo da Vinci said that life was like a wheel, that at one point, you're at the bottom and the only thing that keeps you going is the knowledge that sooner or later, you'll get to the top again. Right now, I'm about as low as I think I've ever been… -sigh- The person I thought was my best friend turned out to be full of crap and issues… so when I decided to help another friend that concerned my best friend, she attacked me and then blamed the entire thing on me… At this point in time, I no longer want to see her face…So my life is crap, and I kept putting this story off… and off… then Spring Break came and I went to the other side of the county, and I came back and continued to put it off, so… please, forgive me…)_

Silence. It was the kind of awkward silence that makes you squirm and want to shout out because of the silence, but you just bite your tongue and hope to hell somebody will make the first move before you do.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a loud _SLAP_! Everybody but Hanaka and Shigeatsu flinched. Shigeatsu went flying, taken down by Hanaka's hand. It was as if he hardly could believe he had two drop dead gorgeous girls in the same room as him and just _had_ to 'show his appreciation' by… well, we all know his incarnation's… habits, so…

"Ok," Hanaka growled, whirling round and pinning her eyes on poor Kagome who flinched under the dangerous glare. "So you knew my incarnation, _his_ incarnation, and his incarnation," she asked, jabbing a thumb at Shigeatsu, who was still unconscious on the floor by Itaru's bed.

"Ah… yeah," Kagome said, nodding her head vigorously.

"And I was a taijiya whose village was slaughtered by the guy who killed me and forced you to turn yourself into stone, ne?"

"Er… yeah…" Kagome said again, less… bubbly.

"And you expect me to BELIEVE ALL THIS CRAP!" she shouted in disbelief.

"Um… hai?" Kagome said AGAIN, only this time, sheepishly.

"Right… I'm going," Hanaka said, turning and making her way out of Itaru's room.

"No, wait!" Shippo shouted, launching himself at her and grabbing her by the wrist, tugging her back into the room. "I'm a kitsune, that quiet… man of ice-"

"OI! I am _not_ a man of ice!" Sesshomaru shouted, narrowing his tawny eyes at poor Shippo. Kagome grinned. Five hundred years ago, Sesshomaru would've never- God forbid- said something like 'Oi'… Oh, how she would keep that against him…

"Man of ice cold water," Shippo amended, looking away from the glare Sesshomaru sent his way. "Is an Inu taiyokai. This girl is a miko and he… _was_ once a monk… not a very HOLY monk, but a monk none the less… Itaru doesn't really look/act like InuYasha usually did but… he _was_ also a hanyou! _How_ can you just… _ignore_ EVERYTHING!?"

It was Hanaka's turn to look sheepish. "I'm not… _ignoring_ it… it's just… I've just been… _thrown_ into this and I… I just don't know what to _do_!!!"

Kagome smiled sympathetically and slipped an arm around the poor girl's shoulders. "I know exactly what you mean… You want everything to be normal again but you don't know how its gonna be like that again… and a small voice in the back of your head is telling you to just turn away; it'll all stop if you just step out the door or put the top back on the well… but you're just too curious not to… no matter how much you try to turn away…"

Hanaka nodded, her long brown hair moving gently against her shoulders as she stared into Kagome's eyes. "Hai…"

She smiled and hugged Hanaka. "Gomenasai," she said. "But… I _need_ you beside me… I know I must sound… insane to ask this of you… but Sango-chan was my best friend… and you're her reincarnation… I doubt we won't get along!"

Though the words in themselves weren't… what Hanaka was sure Kagome wanted them to feel like or sound like, they still had their affect. She calmed down and sat in a comfy fluffy chair. She sighed and looked down at her intertwined hands. "Kagome-san," she said softly. "I… If I or _we_ help you… does that mean that we'll be saving the world or something?"

Kagome blinked. That fact, that small little fact, had been one of the few things that had, at first, kept her in the Sengoku Jidai. That and the immense guilt over blowing up a woman's _soul_!

She nodded. "Hai. I think you will be…"

Hanaka nodded. "And… will we be just… replacements or something?"

Kagome flinched and looked away. "No… Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, and InuYasha are dead. There's no bringing them back to life, and there's nobody who can replace them… but that doesn't mean I don't want to be friends with you. Who your incarnation was doesn't affect anything of who you are, except for how you look."

A smile twitched at the corners of Hanaka's lips and she smiled tearfully up at Kagome. "Ok then," she said, standing and brushing some hair and dirt from her skirt. "Then let's go…"

Kagome jumped. "Don't… don't you need to tell your parents?" Hanaka's smile faltered. She bent her head so her bangs covered her eyes, but Kagome knew she was keeping back tears.

"My… my parents died when I was just a kid, and the aunt I used to live with died a few weeks ago…"

Kagome gasped lightly and hugged Hanaka quickly. "Oh… I'm so sorry…" she whispered as Hanaka her back lightly. Pulling away, she wiped the last traces of tears from her eyes.

Swallowing, Kagome smiled again. She turned to Itaru and Shigeatsu, the latter of whom was just waking up. "So… what about you?"

Sesshomaru stood up, his long white hair falling gracefully about him. "I can take care of that," he said, smiling coolly. Kagome shivered…

"You're not… not going to… _kill_ their parents, are you?" she asked. Only moments later did she realize how stupid she sounded. '_But,_' she reasoned lightly. '_It's _Sesshomaru_… I can never be too careful with him and all…_'

The inu taiyokai laughed lightly. "Oh no… of course not… I'm just going to say I'm bringing them along with me for some reason or another."

A relived sigh escaped Kagome's lips and she smiled. "Right then," she said, straightening and grinning happily. "And my family thinks I'm dead or five hundred years into the past so… lets go!"

Shigeatsu smiled. "Good… I love walking!"

* * *

"I hate walking!" Shigeatsu moaned, pulling his pack higher up his shoulders. Kagome had insisted that she teach them how to fight, and for her to practice her archery. Here, in the middle of the forest, the last part of what was once InuYasha's Forest, was the ideal place.

"We're here!!!" Kagome cried, smiling happily at the lake that stretched out before them. It was crystal clear, and you could see trees that had once stood high and proud, now rotting, what look like moss but, was Kagome presumed, was algae, still clinging stubbornly to the bark. An open stretch of sand that made up a beach rested by the side of the lake and Kagome couldn't help but frown slightly.

_Flashback_

_Kagome gasped and jogged ahead, her hands still clamped firmly onto the handle bars of her bike. The lake was beautiful. One or two trees glistening in its clean depths and Kagome smiled happily. The sun sparkled off of the lake's surface and dragonflies danced across the surface, gently touching the water before lifting once more._

_She turned around and waved her hand. "Hey, InuYasha! Can we rest here!?"_

_The half demon snorted and looked around, but she could tell, no matter how much he was trying to look like he didn't care, he liked this place. It was calm, and the humans of the group were beginning to wear out. "Keh," he snorted, folding his arms behind his head and leaping into a tree. "Whatever… just don't spend too much time doing absolutely nothing, 'kay?"_

_Kagome nodded and Sango and Miroku quickly sat down on the beach, talking quietly to each other. Shippo and Kirara began a game of tag as Kagome took off her shoes and socks. She slowly slipped her foot onto a slippery tree that led to a rock she wanted to sit on. It wobbled dangerously under her and she waved her arms wildly, trying desperately to keep her balance. Kagome lifted a foot to take a step forward, but the algae was slick. She let out a soft cry as she fell to the side._

_A flash of red and silver, and a splash of water later Kagome was standing on the rock, clutching InuYasha. "Feh. Stupid wench! It you wanted to sit on an over sized pebble, you could've sat somewhere that wasn't surrounded by water!"_

_Kagome just lifted her head and smiled happily at him. A gentle blush dusted his cheeks and Kagome could feel him shift gently, his arms, still wrapped around her waist, tightening and untightening._

_They both suddenly realized that it was completely silent. They looked to where their companions were supposed to be, but only an empty beach greeted them. Kagome swallowed as he turned back to her and opening his mouth to reprimand her some more. Standing slightly on her tip toes, she gave him a peck on the cheek. "Arigato, InuYasha, for not letting me fall into the water!" she said, pulling away, a deep blush making her face almost as red if not as much as his haori._

"_K-Keh," he stuttered and Kagome giggled, pulling out of his embrace and sitting down. She patted the spot next to her, she smiled at him as he sat down. Sighing, she laid her head on his shoulder. Everything was just… perfect._

_End Flashback_

"Heeeeeeeeeeelloooooooooooo!!!!! Earth to Kagome-san!" Hanaka cried, waving her hand in front of Kagome's face. She jumped and looked sheepishly around the group. Shippo had a sad smile on his face; he also remembered. Everybody else just stared at her. Itaru turned and shrugged.

Suddenly, a beige streak launched itself at Kagome, who cried out as something soft and furry ramped into her. Falling backwards on her rump, she looked down at the little mewling ball of fur that now resided under her chin, purring and meowing softly, rubbing its head against her neck.

"Ki-Kirara?" Kagome stuttered as the fire neko pulled away to lick Kagome's cheek and survey her. Kirara had changed slightly. Her back leg was twisted at an odd angle and had obviously been broken and healed wrong. Silver decorated her muzzle and the tips of her feet, tail, and ran along her back. She looked so… old. The Kirara Kagome remembered had always seemed young. If Kagome had been asked to put an age on a human Kirara, she would've said twenty or so. This Kirara seemed… eighty.

Kagome cried out happily and hugged Kirara close to her. "Oh, Kirara!!! I'm so glad you're alive!"

The fire yokai purred against her and snuggled closer to her.

Suddenly, a rustling came from the left of Kagome who cried out and pulled away, staring in utter horror as Sesshomaru leapt out of the bushes, an angry scowl placed firmly on his usually stoic face. The flash of color made Kagome glance up. Her face paled.

Sesshomaru nodded as he watched the Saimyosho fly away, far above them all and going at a much faster pace than Kagome had ever seen it go before. "It appears Naraku already knows our location," he growled. "This does not bode well."

_(A/N: Well… it's not all that bad… I hope… A little bit of InuKag fluff there! I was originally going to have Kagome be singing All Good Things by __Nelly Furtado__, but I've already did a song fic off of that song, and the song didn't come out when Kagome was in the Sengoku Jidai so… For some reason, I've become addicted to this song…_

_By the way, the place the tachi went to actually exists, except that it's in Washington USA, not Japan… but I just LOVED it there! My dad and I went camping there and I read a book/fan fiction I had printed off of the computer. I almost did slip on that tree… Freaked the hell outa me… and my sandals were _SO_ wet! Everything they touched, needles, dirt, leaves, EVERYTHING, stuck to it!!! –grumbles- Ah well…)_


	7. Sick and Twisted

**Chapter Six**

**Sick and Twisted******

Naraku sighed as he leaned back against his chair, folding his arms behind his head and propping his feet on the desk. Today had been good. Very good. He had found out the miko had survived (he couldn't wait to hear her dying sobs and screams as he tortured her… He had been dreaming of it for centuries now…), but more importantly, the jewel shard, he had found the old group's reincarnations, Sesshomaru, the kitsune, and the neko, AND had had a cookie. 'Course, the cookie was a damn good one too…

Suddenly, his feet falling to the floor and his arms coming out from behind his head, Naraku lurched forward, his finger hitting the intercom button for his secretary. "Yasmine! Get in here!"

A young woman, maybe only nineteen or twenty, entered, clutching a folder tightly to her chest. Bright azure eyes glazed passively at Naraku from a pale face. Paler than it should've been. The woman's long pure black hair was done up in a braided bun, the end trailing down over her left shoulder to rest against her chest. Her dark grey suit made her hair look darker and her skin almost a translucent white, and her white under shirt that peeked out from the V neckline of her upper suit seemed to melt into her body. Red painted nails dug into the folder as she looked down at the ground, her red mascara painted lids half closing.

"Naraku-sama," she murmured, her voice a slight breeze against cherry red lips. Naraku smiled. It was almost like old times…

Standing, he turned his back on her, facing out at Tokyo. A smile spread across his lips as his short hair, tinged ever so slightly with silver and graying in many places, was pushed out of his face. "Yasmine. You know what you are." The girl flinched. He could hear it and he couldn't help but feel satisfied by this show of pain. Her predecessor never let him see it, and he liked wringing her of all he could. It was… fun. "You are a hanyou. True, stronger than most, seeing as you stole almost all demonic powers from the nameless faceless sister you might or might no longer have. But still a worthless, filthy, disgusting hanyou."

He turned around to find Yasmine still staring unseeingly at the floor, her hands clenched so tight over the folder she was carrying as tears slowly welled up in her eyes. She bit her lip and they stopped, but her vision, no doubt, was still slightly blurry. Yasmine nodded slightly before looking up, staring past Naraku as he stalked towards her like a lion, and began to circle her, insults spilling over his lips as he degraded everything from her looks, to her species, to her non-existent family, to her intelligence. Finally, she took a deep breath, still staring out at the Tokyo landscape. "I have no family." Her voice was shaky, her breathing painful. "Nobody cares about me and nobody will." It was what he wanted, and she'd be damned if she had to stand here and listen to his insults all day.

Naraku shook his head and a hand trailed over her jaw. Yasmine bit down the instinctive desire to flee. "No…" he purred, his black eyes flashing crimson for a moment. "No… _I _am your family. _I_ will care about you…"

Finally, he pulled away, walking back to the window, his back once again facing her. Yasmine felt as if she'd collapse on his floor, right here, right now. But he turned back towards her, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Yasmine. I have a job for you…"

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Kagome ran her fingers through her hair; a nervous habit she had picked up from InuYasha near the end of their journey, when they had come across many more slaughtered villages than any of them had any desire to see.

"So, let me get this straight again… Naraku, as you said before, is now a successful businessman, as are you, Sesshomaru, has all but my piece of the Shikon no Tama, and now knows where _we_ are and _who_ we are?"

Sesshomaru looked as if he was mulling everything she said over, before giving a brisk nod and accepting some green tear from his secretary. The young girl, only a few years older than Kagome, turned towards the miko, a huge smile plastered all over her face. Long black hair fell about her face in a straight curtain as unruly bangs covered bright sapphire eyes that sparkled with merriment at the slightest joke. Her cheeks were a gentle pink as she served green tear in a t-shirt and jeans. Sesshomaru smiled as he watched Kagome watch the girl. Sitting up stiffly, he flicked his claws hand in her direction, attracting Kagome's attention.

"This, miko, is Jasmine, my secretary. I found her on the streets when she was just a child, and as she grew, I realized I had, once again, saved Rin."

Kagome's eyes stretched wide and her mouth formed a soft 'o' of recognition. "It seems like everybody's here then, doesn't it? I mean…" she sighed and scratched the back of her head. "What is it with five hundred years and reincarnations anyways? I mean, it's as if everybody I knew is centered here as a reincarnation, besides Shippo-chan, you, and Kirara." Said twin tail was purring on Kagome's lap and said kitsune was getting his son and mate to meet with his surrogate mother.

Sesshomaru laughed, something Kagome had never thought she'd hear without dieing a second later. "You see, miko, its not quite that simple. You, as does everybody else, have a task to perform, and you _will_ perform it, whether you like it or not. No, I'm not threatening you," he said, lifting a hand as Kagome began to protest. "But I _am_ saying that you can't stray from destiny. That's what led you to my brother, ne?"

The girl leaned back against her chair and studied Sesshomaru silently. "You've changed a lot, Sesshomaru-sama," she said at last. "Last time I saw you, you were so much colder… so much more… wild."

He laughed. "Five hundred years does that to a person, Higurashi-san," he said, using her name out of politeness' sake. Sighing, he stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. "Five hundred years does a lot to a person, in fact. From this point on… we don't know what's going to happen."

Kagome's lips thinned as she pressed them together. Finally, she took a deep breath. "Neither did my companions when we were in the Feudal Era."

Sesshomaru laughed grimly. "Yes… but your normal time was never effected. Just think… if you had left there forever before you became a living statue, do you think everything would've been the same? Yes, it would've been. If you hadn't had defeated Naraku and had died in the process, do you think everything would've been the same? Yes, it would've too! Everything that has ever happened cannot be changed. Only the future."

Kagome leapt up, clutching Kirara close to her chest. "But that's not _true_! She cried. "Then doesn't that mean we have no choice in the matter! Then doesn't that mean that whatever we do now, we can't change it so that it doesn't happen!?"

The inu yokai turned slowly back again to the teenager. Jasmine had long since left to entertain the others that waited in the living room for Kagome and Sesshomaru to finish with their little 'discussion'. It suddenly struck to Kagome how… _old_ he suddenly looked. Back in the Sengoku Jidai, he had looked nineteen going on twenty, but now… he looked so much older. Young, yet wise, old, yet childish. '_Ageless is what I'd call him,_' she thought, surveying him. Suddenly, she felt as if she was in the presence of the great Inu no Taisho himself. Maybe Sesshomaru grew into the title.

He turned back, his face as stoic as she remembered, but his eyes still burned painfully. "Stop staring at me with such pity, ningen," he growled, glaring at her. Finally, he collapsed in a chair, a clawed hand coming up to cover his face as he sighed sadly. "I never thought I would ask a human this but… what would you have me do… You are the most selfless person among us, and have had the most dealings with Naraku."

Kagome bit back a surprise remark. Yep… he'd changed.

Swallowing, she looked down at her hands, tugging her lower lip between her teeth and chewing it thoughtfully. "Well… Sesshomaru-sama… as I've said before, you've changed… during battle, 'cause I'm _positive_ we'll have to fight Naraku, you'll have to be like you used to. Stoic, unfeeling…" she grinned. Did she dare…? Yep! "And bitchy."

Sesshomaru looked up, the glare he had for the ningen melting as he smiled coolly at her. "My brother has rubbed off on you, miko."

She shrugged. "He grows on you…"

The inu taiyokai laughed and turned away. "Bit like some sort of weed, fungus or some sort of -"

A scream echoed throughout the small manor as the sound of a window shattering alerted Kagome and Sesshomaru to an intrusion. They both launched themselves forward and skidded into the room to find Jasmine and Hanaka running for the door to get Sesshomaru and Kagome, and Shigeatsu lunging for the window. He stuck his head outside and yelled. "ITARU!"

Kagome's blood ran cold. '_Itaru-kun!_' her mind screamed at her as she darted to the window herself, her bright brown eyes finding two figures. They were just too small to really tell what they were, but the yells and curses (many of the latter rhyming with 'truck' and 'duck' and 'bore' …. Any guesses what they were?) were painfully obviously Itaru's.

Whirling around, she fixed Sesshomaru with a pleading look. "We have to go after them!"

Sesshomaru nodded and grabbed Jasmine's hand. "Come. The kitsune will know what happened, won't he, Jasmine?" He looked meaningfully at his secretary and adopted daughter. She shifted under his gaze, biting her lip, before nodding.

"Hai, Sesshomaru-sama! Just… be careful… Same with everybody else."

They all nodded and ran out.

Yasmine tugged the boy along. He was struggling away, yelling that she was a "fucking mother bitch of doom" and that she should "fucking let me go you whore!" It was rather… tiring to listen to him screaming at her… Ah well. The brat would soon be an empty shell now…

Before her stood the old woman, her beady little eyes watering as she moved her girth back and forth from the tub, filling it with juices and herbs. Yasmine's nose wrinkled at the foul smell before she thrust the boy at him. "You've got it ready then?" she asked as the boy stilled, looking up at the incredibly fat woman, her dress squeezing her stomach before shooting out and being drenched in hanging jewels and gold and silver like some sort of weird toy.

The woman cast Yasmine a disapproving glare. "Of course I did!" Her voice was screechy, like nails being dragged across a chalkboard to form words.

Yasmine snorted and turned away. "Good, 'cause if you didn't, you'd have to pay with your life…"

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Kagome stumbled off of Sesshomaru's back, falling to the ground and biting back vomit. "DAMN IT! _MUST_ YOU GO THAT FAST!?" she yelled at him. He grinned, and Kagome got the distinct feeling he had done that on purpose. '_He's acting more like InuYasha than the Sesshomaru I knew,_' she thought, shaking her head and staggering into the cave. Her nose wrinkled and she lifted her handkerchief that had survived through everything to her nose. It smelled like… like…

Something clicked in the back of her head. It smelled like that stuff that had been poured in around her when Kikyo was brought back… '_Nah… I'm just being stupid,_' she thought, stumbling forward. "Itaru-kun!?" she called. "Itaru-kun?"

"Kagome!" she heard his voice yell. "Kago-" It stopped suddenly and, as Kagome stumbled into the room, torches lit about what looked like a coffin, she saw his face. He looked like he was about to throw up.

"Itaru!" Kagome screamed, lunging forward, but something slammed into her, making her hit the wall and slump to the floor, blood slowly leaking out of a temple. The world wavered and almost went out as she lifted her head.

A woman stood before her. Her long silver hair done up in an eloquent bun, but straggly whips fell about her face and red eyes, and her pinched features that once spoke of great beauty turned to face lifts made Kagome gag slightly. The woman was almost decorated in expensive jewels and metals and silks. It was truly disgusting. "You will _not_ interfere!" she woman screeched, making Kagome cringe. The voice was truly the worst part.

The woman lifted a hand, a dagger clenched tightly in her fist and brought it down. Kagome's eyes closed, but even behind her closed lids, she could see a flash of light. Something was not right.

_(A/N: DAMN! That beginning paragraph has to be the most depressing thing I think I have _ever_ written without having somebody die… Man… Now _I_'m sad! SHOOT! Ah well… Ja ne! _

_The Kikyo Hater) _


	8. Déjà Vu

**Chapter Seven**

**Déjà V****u**

The triumphant "AH HA!" of the woman before her made Kagome look up, her blood freezing as she looked outside. Somebody was staggering in, swaying as if they were unused to walking. '_It can't be._' She had only just accepted his death. And he wouldn't want to be brought back like… _this_. '_It can't be-_'

"InuYasha, I presume," the old crone purred, stepping away disdainfully from Kagome who had begun to shiver, her eyes wide. No… it couldn't be him… InuYasha was dead… wasn't he…? "Now I won't need to get my hands dirty." Whirling around, the woman pointed at Kagome who shied away, her eyes darting from the figure in the shadows (she still couldn't bring herself to admit he was alive. If she did and it turned out that he wasn't… she wouldn't be able to survive…) "Kill her."

The figure froze, shadows covering its face as it turned towards Kagome, who looked silently at it, pleading… for what? Kagome bit her lip, her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. Something inside of her was screaming in agony. But… something else inside of her was hopeful. If it _was_ InuYasha…

The woman sighed and shook her head. "You're taking too long you ungrateful little wretch! _I_'ll do it _myself_!"

Kagome shied away from the demon as she stalked forward, holding her knife like that guy from Psycho.

Suddenly, there was a flash of red and the figure leapt forward. Kagome started. Red and silver filled her vision. Tears blurred the edges and made them bleed together. "I-InuYasha?" Her voice stuttered and sounded incredibility weak but… it was really InuYasha!

She guessed the movement from the top of her head was an ear flickering in her direction; acknowledging her, but not turning his eyes from the woman.

He jumped forward, his claws darting out. It was over just as quickly as it had begun. The woman lay shredded, her eyes staring unseeingly at the cave roof as InuYasha slowly stood and turned towards Kagome. Golden eyes flashed as he watched her slowly.

"InuYasha… is it really-" she began to ask, but his voice, raw and husky, cut her off.

"Why?"

She paused. Eh? The confusion must've showed on her face because he turned towards her fully, shouting his lungs out at her. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT! DO YOU REALIZE THAT NARAKU COULD'VE KILLED YOU MORE EASILY DUE TO THE FACT THAT ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS TIP YOU OVER! OR WERE YOU _THAT_ DESPERATE TO GET AWAY FROM ME!?"

Kagome flinched back. Was _that_ why…?

Swallowing the bile that rose in her throat, she stood and staggered towards him. He took a step forward and steadied her, his eyes never leaving hers. "Why…?" His voice was slightly chocked. "I thought…"

She sighed. "Baka! I didn't do because I wanted to get away from you! I hesitated BECAUSE of that reason but… I couldn't let Naraku get the entire jewel. I know he wouldn't have been able to do anything with just an incomplete jewel, so…"

His hands tightened and Kagome's world swam. "But why did you have to sacrifice yourself?"

Kagome sighed and fell against him, her world slowly fading as she began to loose consciousness. "Because… it was my duty…"

* * *

Sheets rubbed against Kagome's hand as she shifted uncomfortably, her eyes clenched tightly shut. Her head throbbed as she sifted her head, her long black hair splayed out like a halo about her head.

Finally, her eyes slowly opened. Gold and silver filled her vision and her brows knit together for a moment. Had it all been a dream. Just a dream…?

"INUYASHA!" she cried out, launching herself at him and hugging him fiercely. He started against her, but wrapped his arms around her body. "I had a horrible dream…." She whispered against his chest. "Everybody died, and I had to turn myself into stone and your reincarnation revived me and I saw everybody's reincarnation except for Sesshomaru's and Shippo's. They were still alive. But then you were brought back and I don't think you forgave me for leaving you and-"

He made soft "Shhhh…. Shhhh"ing noises from above her as she wept into his chest. Finally, she calmed down enough to breathe easily and look up at him. It had to have been a dream. It just had to. If not…

InuYasha pulled away from her, his eyes down cast and determinately not looking at her. It was then that Kagome took in the room she was in.

What she had, at first and without looking at anything except InuYasha, she had just thought that, naturally, it had been _her_ room when in fact… it just _wasn't_!

A leather couch sat by the door and a bookcase filled with books in many different languages sat on its shelves. Only a few of the English ones could she understand. The Sight, Firebringer, Warriors, The Amulet of Samarkand and many other sat there, along with what looked to be an original copy of The Bamboo Cutter and a couple other typical books any Japanese person would know. Her eyes moved to a desk that sat before a window, the dark brown wood looking ancient, and the chair looked as if it came from Paris France. A closet sat near by, the doors shuttered against her. Then, her bed. The black covers had a soft velvety feel with silk underneath them, and a cotton blanket folded neatly at the foot of her bed.

Kagome slowly sank back into her bed, her eyes wide and distant. "So… it wasn't a dream." Her voice was soft and filled with pain. Swallowing, she looked down at her interlaced hands. "You really _are_…"

The hanyou flinched. Yeah… he was… and he had taken the life of a young boy, in fact, to walk the earth again. It felt… wrong… and the only thing that kept him going was… '_Kagome…_' he thought, finishing the unsaid thought that had flitted across his mind. '_Even in death, I could hear her name. My soul…when I heard her name, I had to come back, and when I heard her voice… She sounded fucking scared! I couldn't… I could never have… I tried to stay away, like in life; Kami, I'm _DEAD _for Pete's sake, and I _knew_ I shouldn't come back but… Kagome needed my help…_'

"InuYasha?" He looked up as she asked his name. A grim smile flickered across his face. He could tell what she wanted to say: he needed to go back to that boy he had seen Sango, Miroku, Sesshomaru, and that one red headed guy carrying back.

"It's ok. Kagome… I need to go back…"

She sat up straight, her legs curling underneath her. "But I don't _want_ you to go!" she cried, lunging at him, her arms curling around his neck as he cradled her to him. He, quite frankly, didn't want to go either but…

"I have too… That kid… I don't belong…." He sighed and pulled away. "Come on… Let's go."

* * *

Naraku was angry. Very angry.

He slammed his fist onto the desk in front of him, grimly satisfied as a slight cracking sound came from below his fist. Snorting, he pulled away, whirling around and shouting for his assistance.

Yasmine slowly walked in, her head bowed, her blue eyes glued to the floor. Naraku slowly stomped over to her and grabbed her by the front of her neckline, tugging her forward so that his breath slowly crawled across her cheeks. "Yasmine," he murmured softly. "You failed me… the hanyou got away. He didn't even hurt the girl. When I last saw him, he was in a rage over her abandoning him, and yet you weren't even able to get him to give her a little scratch. Hell, he _protected_ her. You know what that means, right?"

The poor girl flinched, attempting to take a step back, but her boss' claws were still snagged in her shirt. "A-ano… But, why did you want to use the hanyou in the _first_ place. Surely you knew that he wouldn't-"

The crack of flesh meeting flesh filled the room, as Naraku back handed Yasmine, letting go of her and letting her slam into the floor. He knelt by her and held her head up by her hair, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. "I wanted to use him because his friends cannot fight against him, and when a soul if filled with hatred or pure anger before dead, and they are brought back in an artificial body, then that means that it clouds their judgment, and, sometimes, their memory. It was a loose hope, but if I killed him while in that body, his soul wouldn't go back to that boy, but _both_ would die! So, if he wouldn't work for me, I'd be killing to birds with one stone, if I didn't use him against the miko. Enough of an answer?"

He pushed her roughly back to the ground and turned away. Without even looking at her, he issued his order. "Retrieve the hanyou. He's at the tai yokai's residence. Be quick, be silent, and if you mess up, you _will_ die."

Yasmine nodded and scooted away before standing up and running away.

Naraku sighed and slowly sank into his chair. Being evil seemed to easy now-a-days. Times were _so_ stressful…

* * *

Kagome bit her lip and couldn't even look InuYasha in the eye. He was going to become Itaru again… he was dieing again.

After realizing that the 'red haired smelly freak' was Shippo, meeting Shippo's mate and son, and a long secret talk with Sesshomaru in Sesshomaru's study, he stood before the body of Itaru like a man who is determined to go to the gallows with honor.

Still, doubt made him waver as he stepped closer to Itaru's body and Kagome felt her heart stop. Finally, she couldn't take it any longer.

Leaping forward, she shouted, "Matte (wait)!" InuYasha turned as she barreled into him, linking her arms around his stomach and sobbing into his chest. "InuYasha…" she whispered as he didn't react. "I… I don't want to you go without knowing… Aishiteruyo (I love you), InuYasha!"

He froze in her grip, but his hand slowly came up and gently smoothed her hair down against the back of her head. Kagome pulled away and saw that his eyes were wide in amazement. "Ka-Kagome, I-"

Slowly standing on tiptoe, Kagome pressed a soft sad kiss against his lips. She knew they tasted of salt, but hardly cared as he slowly bent his head and responded, keeping the kiss chaste, yet still full of love.

Finally, she pulled away and Shigeatsu tugged her away. But she never broke the eye contact. Never.

Taking a deep breath, InuYasha turned back to Itaru's body. Reaching out a hand, he brushed his claws against the boy's cheek. Everybody held their breath but… Nothing.

His hand rested against Itaru-kun's shoulder, and the second he leaned forward, putting weight on his flesh, InuYasha went ridged. Finally, a bright light illuminated him and Kagome struggled half-heartedly to get back to him. But it was useless. He had chosen this and-

She shielded her eyes as the light flared like a young sun, reaching the very corners of the room. Dimly, in the back of her mind, she wondered, '_Is this what happened when I recalled Kikyo's and mine's soul?_'

Shadows danced around the room, and Kagome could just barely see InuYasha's soul begin to slip into Itaru's body. But, about half way through, the windows blew open. Kagome cried out in surprise and turned, her bright coffee brown eyes stretched open. What was-?

Jasmine stood there, on the window sill, watching everybody. But… it _wasn't_ Jasmine… the eye color was too intense, and didn't sparkle. Nor did Jasmine have any demonic characteristics. This woman had pointed ears, long nails tapered down to what _could've_ been claws, but didn't really look like claws, and she just looked so… _wild_.

A bruise was forming on her right cheek as she leapt into the room, as fast as the wind, and knocking InuYasha to the ground. The connection between Itaru-kun and InuYasha was broken and InuYasha groaned. He opened his eyes and stared into the woman's. It looked as if he was undecided about whether to slash at the woman's face, or to crawl away. He wasn't given any time to figure out which one he wanted.

Still weak from pouring his soul out (rather literally, in this case) into Itaru, he was pulled up and pushed out onto what looked like a golden feather. Kagome blinked, pushing out the '_GOD that's cheesy!_' and instead focusing on not. Letting. InuYasha. Get. Away!

Jumping forward, she reached for him, but was pulled back before her knees hit the window sill and she went toppling over. Whee!

The woman looked back one last time and her eyes flashed scarlet before her feather lifted and flew away, taking InuYasha with it.

"We get Itaru back and yet InuYasha's gone! WHY!?" Kagome yelled, kicking the leg of a chair before bouncing back, hopping on her left foot as she howling slightly in pain. Her right was now sore. Great! Just great! Perfect! This was ALL she needed, ne? Life. Just. _Sucked_!

Sesshomaru sank into a plush chair, looking vaguely out at the wall. Finally, he let his breath go, but it went in a name: "Kagura…"

_(A/N: Whoo whoo! Nice, ne? Well… life's lookin' up right about now! I hope you liked this chapter! _I _certainly had fun with it! --. The next one should be coming… sooner or later… . . )_


	9. Twins

**Chapter Eight**

**Twins**

Kagome looked up from her… hopping and a look of puzzlement flickered across her face. "Nani?" The demon lord didn't respond. "Sesshomaru-sama, what did you say?"

He turned slowly towards her, his eyes wide. "That was… Kagura!" He stood and faced the window, a hand unconsciously running through his hair, his fingers untangling any curls that had fallen into his perfect hair. As usual, there were very few. Finally, he growled, "Damn it… the gods are involved."

Kagome blinked. "Nani?"

Sesshomaru turned back towards her and grimaced. "Naraku had become enough of a threat to the gods that the underworld and heaven are even involved." He sighed at Kagome's confused expression. "Yokai don't really have immortal souls. We… _are_ immortals. Just… plain and simple. We… We can't be reincarnated unless somebody from… up above, per se, let us back out. I didn't jump to conclusions when I found out my brother had been reincarnated, only because he had part of a human soul. I do not know if hanyou count but… Kagura was a full blooded kaze yokai. She cannot be just randomly thrown into a body like InuYasha, your human friends, and you. Though, I am now rethinking about the fact that those I spoke of just now, you humans, have truly been just tossed aside randomly or not…"

He collapsed, into a chair. Everybody else, completely forgotten in everything, just stood in the background, staring at Sesshomaru and Kagome.

Finally, Shippo's son took a step forward and knelt, his arms below him, elbows out, and head respectfully touching the ground. "Sesshomaru-sama… if what you say is true…"

Sesshomaru sighed. "Then Naraku is more dangerous than I previously thought."

* * *

InuYasha stumbled as he was shoved roughly into a room. He was weak. Hell, who wouldn't be? He had just given a good amount of his soul to another person not even half an hour ago! 

His claws dug into the carpet as he closed his eyes, attempting to gather strength. Lifting his head, his ears pressed against his scalp, InuYasha's amber eyes reached another's form. It towered over him and, as InuYasha breathed in his scent, made the inu hanyou's throat rumble with a growl. But… this couldn't be right! The man looked so… modern…

But there was no mistaking that cocky smile, the way the man held himself, nor the crimson eyes. Taking another sniff, InuYasha realized the man wasn't hiding his eyes behind kitsune magic, as he had thought… but how… The only reason he _knew_ they were crimson was because they had flashed, drowning out the dark brown.

"InuYasha," Naraku purred, not bending down to look at the hanyou in the eye. "It is a pleasure to see you once again."

"Fuck the pleasure part," InuYasha growled, standing shakily to his feet. "If you hurt one hair on Kagome's head… If you even make her look at you… I'll rip your spleen out through your throat!"

Naraku smirked. "Violent, aren't we? But… this is a _civilized_ era… Meaning, unlike the Sengoku Jidai, you cannot just… kill me randomly. You… will be in trouble…"

InuYasha's growl hit another notch. "Screw that! I don't fucking CARE! I was going to give the rest of my soul back to the boy but… either way, I don't care."

The yokai's eyes narrowed, brows meeting together as he glared in confusion at the hanyou. "The… _rest_ of your soul. What does that mean?"

InuYasha smirked. "I gave the boy almost all of my soul. He'll be just like Kagome; alive, and so am I."

Naraku swore, turning about. InuYasha blinked. The idiot… you never turn your back on your opponent.

Smirking, he darted forward, claws flashing as he raised them to rake them across Naraku's back, but suddenly, he was flying across the room, the wall opposite them coming up at him at a scary pace.

He slammed into it, coughing up nonexistent blood as he slid limply down the wall. Looking up, InuYasha blinked. Naraku's right hand was still positioned in a past backhanding move. His amber eyes widened. '_But… I never saw his arm move… How is that possible?_'

Naraku turned back towards InuYasha. "Ku ku ku… One must never attack an opponent's back, InuYasha…" A smile spread across his face. "We'll just have to teach you some manner, ne, InuYasha?"

"Go fuck yourself."

Naraku sighed. "As pathetic as ever, hanyou. Yasmine… take him away… Let one of my incarnations take him on… Let's see how much he is capable of…"

Yasmine inclined her head. "Hai, Naraku-sama," she murmured and grabbed InuYasha roughly by his shoulder.

"Wait."

She froze and turned towards Naraku. He turned and flicked his hand, motioning for Yasmine to step away. She did so as he approached InuYasha, who knelt, crumbled about his stomach as if protecting it. Snorting, Naraku grabbed part of InuYasha's silver locks and tugged his head up. The hanyou grunted. It was his only sign of pain.

Naraku finally lowered his head, his voice in a low hiss. "Oh… and dear Kagome will not have much time left. I will make sure her death will be the most painful of all my captive's and traitor's deaths."

InuYasha's eyes widened and he lunged at Naraku, but two yokai detached themselves from the walls, pinning sutras on him and grabbing him by the arms. "DAMN IT! DON'T YOU _DARE_ TOUCH HER! NARAKU!"

Naraku just watched idly, hardly even blinking. Then, he flicked his hand. "Take him away." InuYasha was dragged away, screaming threats at Naraku if he touched Kagome.

Yasmine watched as Naraku fell into his leather chair and turned towards the window. "Ano… Naraku-sama?" Silence. "Don't you think…. that was a little clichéd?"

Naraku slowly turned to face her, a grin spread across his lips. "Yeah… I suppose so, but what's life without the fun of a doomed one's melodramatics?"

Yasmine sweat dropped. "Of… course, Milord." She bowed herself out.

_(A/N: Wow… depressing, ne? And it has a lot of dark humor in here… -sigh- Ah well… Still, I hope you like it! --. I was sorely tempted to do this at the ending:_

Yasmine watched as Naraku fell into his leather chair and turned towards the window. "Ano… Naraku-sama?" Silence. "Don't you think…. that was a little clichéd?"

Naraku sighed and rubbed his temples. '_God damn… mother fucking… whore of doom…._' he thought before turned towards Yasmine. Sighing, he pointed at a screen Yasmine hadn't noticed before. "Blame _her_," Naraku muttered, looking away.

Yasmine turned. A teenager sat there, looking out a window to her left, slightly longer than shoulder length brown hair mussed and tangled. She wore a bathrobe, grey t-shirt, and striped… Were those clown pants…? Nah… Just looked like 'em.

The person yawned, rubbed the back of her head, nodded and mouthed to some music, then began typing. Yasmine rubbed her temples. "Of course… the writer…"

Naraku nodded. "Yep… Sooner or later… I say we do mutiny…"

Yasmine blinked. "She can hear you ya know…"

He blinked, stopped, grimaced. "Damn… I'm screwed."

_Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I didn't… Ah well… Either way works! Well, it's 10:25, and my bed time is 10… I wonder how I'm gonna pull _this_ one off… Ja ne!_

_The Kikyo Hater)_


	10. Awakening, Training and Gathering Allies

**Chapter Nine**

**Awakening, Training, and Gathering Allies**

_(A/N: Oh, by the way, may I say this, right here, right now? This is an Inu/Kag fic, _NOT_ and Ita/Kag fic. Gomenasai to those who might feel that Itaru-kun and Kagome-chan would be good together, but I'm too much of an InuYasha/Kagome fan to let her or him be with anybody else. Gomen na ja! Now, ON WITH THE STORY!!! --.)_

Itaru groaned as he sat up, a hand rising to cup his aching head. "Wha- What the _hell_!" he muttered, closing his eyes. Pain shot through his head at a slow tempo. _Thump_, _thump_, _thump_…

The slight knock on the door made him jump and whirl around to face it, dark violet eyes stretched wide in surprise. "Come-come in?" he called hesitantly.

Kagome slid the shoji open, slowly sliding into his room and sliding it shut again before facing him. Her eyes were bloodshot as if she had been crying _and_ had stayed up all night. It seemed to be both, if her pale face, dried tear streaks, and bangs under her eyes were any hint.

"Ka-Kagome-san," Itaru said, swinging his legs over the side and throwing the covers off of him. "Daijobu ka?"

"Dai-daijobu," Kagome said softly, looking down at the floor, not meeting Itaru's eyes.

"What happened? All I remember was trying to make sure I didn't throw up, seeing you, and then… nothing."

Kagome snorted mirthlessly. "Yeah, I know how that feels…" She collapsed into a chair. "Gods… it's as if history is repeating itself… in _my_ lifetime!"

Itaru blinked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

She looked up to face him, her slightly red eyes weary beyond imagination. Taking a deep breath, Kagome looked as if she was attempting of think of how to explain it all to him. Finally, she let it out, her head and shoulders slumping and hanging near her knees. "Itaru-kun," she murmured. "That woman in there… she was attempting to remove your soul from your body and put it in a fact body of InuYasha. Problem is, I think both your and InuYasha's stubbornness about not leaving his sleep in the after life and your hold on your soul kept it in there, but when I appeared, either you stopped concentrating, InuYasha decided to return, or both. Either way, your body became a soulless shell, and InuYasha returned in a body made of clay. The same thing happened with me. You remember when I told you I was a reincarnation as well." Itaru nodded, silent. "Well… Kikyo, my incarnation, was put in a fake clay body. I recalled by soul, but she ran away before I could get all of it back. For a good amount of time afterwards, if I felt a great amount of anger or fear for somebody other than myself, my body would recall the rest of my soul. It took a while before I could let my emotions go haywire around her and keep her safe.

"The same thing happened with you, only slightly different. The only reason I was able to recall my soul was because of my Mikoki (miko/spiritual powers), which you don't have. InuYasha willingly returned over half of your soul, but was… interrupted by a reincarnation of a woman we once knew."

Itaru fell back onto his bed, exhausted from the explanation he had just been given. "Demo… where is he now?"

Kagome sighed and shook her head. "That's the problem. We just… don't _know_!!!"

* * *

InuYasha hung limply by some chains. Ofudas rested on his wrists and ankles, soaked and already slightly drying in his blood. The cuffs dug into his skin and sore flesh every time he pulled forward, attempting to get himself off of the damned wall. 

The small creaking of a door made him lift his head, the tips of his bangs crimson, making the world red.

A figure slowly slipped in, closing the door behind it. InuYasha sniffed the air. A woman. The woman who had taken him in here…

She slowly stole down to stand by him, looking from side to side with her bright azure eyes. Finally, she turned back towards him and snorted. "You smell awful."

"I'm covered in blood, hanging on a wall, and the woman I care most about, who I would happily give my life for, is in danger. Smelling bad isn't exactly at the top of my list at this very moment."

The woman snorted again. "Hey… just breakin' the ice. Now…" Slowly, she bent and picked up some food, holding it towards his mouth. InuYasha was starving, but he wasn't desperate. _Yet_. Still, he had his pride.

"I'm not gonna eat off of your hand like some little _lap dog_!" he growled, turning away.

The woman slipped her high heel off and kicked him. She had done so so that she wouldn't stab him in the thigh. "Baka! This is so that you can regain strength so that when Naraku unleashes you against his children, you can actually _fight_, instead of just lying there like a bucket of bones, fat, and bad personality!"

InuYasha glared up at her. "Keh," was all he muttered. "Just unlock one of my chains." She did so, and he grabbed the bread she had proffered towards him. "So…" he said through a mouthful. "Why ya helpin' me?"

"Because," she said, looking disdainfully at him. "Hopefully, you can kill Naraku. Then I can get out of this hell!"

The inu hanyou snorted and looked away. '_Fuckin' bitch!_' he thought angrily, ignoring the fact that he owned her one for giving him food.

Said woman pursed her lips, looking angrily at him. He looked up, rolled his eyes, looked away, and continued eating, taking the meat since he had finished the bread. "So…" he said again, trying to make polite conversation. "What's ya name?"

"Yasmine," she said tartly.

'_Yasmine… it sounds a lot like Jasmine, Sesshomaru's-_' Pause. '_Oh HELL no! You gotta be kidding me!_'

He watched her. She _did_ look a lot like… but… "Do you have a sister?"

Yasmine froze, her eyes wide as she turned towards him. "How'd you know?"

He shrugged. "Donno… maybe the fact that I saw her sorta… helped."

She watched him, her breathing irregular. "You saw… my twin?"

InuYasha nodded. "Hai. Her name's Jasmine and she works for my baka half brother, Sesshomaru."

Yasmine mouthed her twin's and Sesshomaru's name, contemplating them.

Standing, she took InuYasha's empty plate. "Well then… I had best go. Ja ne." Turning, she walked away, her head lifted high as she opened the door and left, closing it behind him.

InuYasha shook his head. "My life was never simple, but this has to be the most complicated it has ever been," he muttered, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes. Slowly, he slid them half open, not really seeing the room he was in. '_But Kagome… please… be safe._'

* * *

The _thump_ of an arrow hitting its mark made Kagome smile. It had been a while since she had fired her arrow, and it had been slightly hard to get back into the swing of things.

Shigeatsu and Hanaka were dueling with wooden katanas, both stumbling, holding them wrong, and not doing a bit of good. Kagome grimaced. It would take a lot of time before either of them were half as good as Miroku or Sango. '_And they weren't good enough to defeat Naraku,_' she thought, her heart thumping painfully in her chest.

A shout distracted her as Kagome prepared to fire her bow again. Jumping, her fingers let go of the string, and the arrow slammed into the ground at the foot of the target. She stared at it, a sweat drop slowly slipping down the side of her head.

Sighing, Kagome turned around. More shouting was emanating from Sesshomaru's mansion. Kagome trudged towards the fence where she had placed her water bottle. Quickly unscrewing the plastic top and chugging down the water, Kagome listened intently.

"NO! NO NO NO NO NO!!!! _NO_!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"AH, COMMON! WHY NOT!?"

"'CAUSE!"

"I NEED MORE OF AN ANSWER THAN JUST THAT!!!"

"ALL RIGHT, _BE_CAUSE!"

"SCREW YOU!"

"THEY'RE TRAINING!"

"FUCK TRAINING! KAGOME'S MY WOMAN!"

'_NANI!?_' Kagome thought, chocking on her water and spluttering, tears developing at the edges of her eyes. She doubled over, coughing and still spluttering as Hanaka pat her on the back. '_Oh shit… you've got to be kidding me…_'

"KAGOME!!!!!" Koga called, leaping from the third story and landing gracefully before racing to her side and gathering her hands in his. "Kagome… it's been five hundred years… I'm so glad to see you again…"

"K-Koga-kun…" Kagome said, her eye twitching.

Shippo appeared behind them, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Hanaka, Shigeatsu… Meet Koga… He was… an ally from the Feudal Era. He, his pack, Ayame, and her pack, and a few other of our friends will be helping us in the fight against Naraku."

"Joy," Kagome said, her voice breathless. '_O-kay… I'll just have to keep myself from strangling Koga-kun in his sleep… hopefully he'll stop with the whole possessive 'Kagome's my woman! Back off or I'll suck your soul out, put it in a jar, eat your body in front of your soul, then devour your soul!' bit… After a while, it kinda gets annoying…_'

_(A/N: Heehee… devouring souls… Anywho, I hope this chapter's good. So… Koga's back, InuYasha and Yasmine have made a shaky alliance, and Itaru's up… Let the insanity begin… -sigh-_

_Anywho, Shippo and Koga were arguing about Koga going to Kagome while she and the others were training. They need to train as much as possible, after all… and he wanted to save Kagome a little bit of trouble, ne? --. Anywho, until next time,_

_The Kikyo Hater/Fluffy Muffin Queen (obey my fluffy goodness and golden-brown authority!)_


	11. Apology:Author's Note:

Listen guys… I am _SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_ sorry about not updating anytime soon, seeing as its kinda hard just to do this… There's a lot of things on my plate… like the fact that I had a Japanese Exchange Student here, my Grandpa died, and I fell off of my bike, so my left arm is now rendered almost completely useless. No, it's not broken, only sprained (though my parents were worried about that), and no, even though it was my primary fear at the time, no cars ran me over… So… it'll still be a while until I update, but thanks for sticking with me! Until next time, ja ne!

P.S. If anybody wants to be a Fluffy Minion, or Fluffy Muffin Minion, or Fluffy Muffin (all are part of my army!), just put FM or FMM in your username, and tell me. I accept you in by poking you… --. Again, until next time, sayonara!

The Fluffy Muffin Queen (obey my fluffy goodness/golden-brown authority!)


	12. New Guys and Pity Parties

_(A/N: I'm back, I'm front, I'm sideways, and I'm INSANE!!! Well, my arm feels much better, though now I've been given a shot, so now my upper arm is in pain, but never fear, determination is here!!! Anyways, listening to The Reduced Shakespeare Company (abridged) has helped me get some humor! I mean, come on!!! This is a little something from one of their radio things:_

"_Are you playing games on the company computer?"_

"_Well what if I am man, what if I am? I didn't want to do this play in the first place! Romeo and Juliet is a stupid play! It's got too many words-"_

"_Adam, that's ridiculous!"_

"_No it's not man! Romeo is a total _dork_! Romeo is-"_

"_What?"_

"_Look look, he's totally in love with Rosaline at the beginning of the play, and five seconds later, he ready to die for Juliet! I think he should die! I think it's a very good idea!"_

_And later "Riiiiiiiiing! Riiiiiiiiing!"_

"_What's that?"_

"… _It's a phone…"_

"_Oh man, I haven't heard one of those in _years_!"_

_Yeeeeeeeah… -ahem- If you want to listen to the entire thing, find them on Myspace, and listen to their sound bites. Its 'Illicit Teenage Sex', which is what Romeo and Juliet _is_ all about! Anyways, on with the story…_

**Chapter Ten**

**New Guys and Pity Parties**

Kagome coughed, attempting to dislodge her hands from Koga's. She, needless to say, was failing. Miserably.

Suddenly she was yanked forward and pulled against Koga's chest. Her face turning crimson as she struggled even harder to get away. "Ano… Ko-Koga-kun," she said, her eyes wide as she looked around desperately. Shigeatsu, the bastard, was grinning, a sparkle in his eye, as he leaned on bokken. Hanaka was frowning, but her own eyes were twinkling as well.

"KOGA!"

Both Kagome and Koga jumped, looking to the house as a red-head in a white and a blue camisole with a violet mini skirt marched up to him. Her hair was in a long braided ponytail, a flower tucked behind her pointed ear. Emerald eyes flashed as Ayame stalked up to Kagome and Koga, raising her hand to strike, eyes glaring at both Kagome and Koga.

'_Is she going to hit me?_' Kagome thought desperately, closing her eyes in fear. The sound of flesh meeting flesh sounded, but it wasn't Kagome who got hit. Instead, she was let go.

Opening an eye, she grinned and opened the other one. Ayame had hit Koga over the head. He was now massaging it, looking pleadingly at her.

"Koga you ignorant bastard! Can't you tell she doesn't find that funny!? She still thinks you-"

"But honey!" Koga cried desperately, rushing to her side, only to have her hit him over the head again.

"Don't you 'honey' me! The poor girl is probably overwhelmed enough as it is! You don't need to make her think that you still have to worry her over hurting your feelings by telling you she doesn't love you!"

"Darling but-"

Ayame backhanded him. _Hard_.

Koga went down like a brick, twitching in the dirt.

Kagome just stared. She had seen him get beaten up, almost killed, his jewel shards ripped out of his legs (_twice_, for pity's sake!), and have his right arm poisoned. And not once, not _once_, had she seen him so utterly and completely…

"You kicked his ass," she said, looking up at Ayame, her face breaking out in a wide grin.

Ayame cocked her hip to the side, winking at Kagome and tossing her braid behind her shoulder. "Well, what else is his mate supposed to do?"

Kagome gaped. "Mate?" Then, when Ayame nodded sheepishly, she squealed and glomped her, hugging her fiercely. "CONGRADULATIONS! I _knew_ you to would get together!"

The poor wolf yokai blinked down at her, looking mighty embarrassed, before patting her awkwardly on the back. Then her face broke out in a smile as well and hugged the girl back. "Arigato! I'm sorry for being such an ass in the Sengoku Jidai. I really felt as if you were a threat an'-"

Kagome giggled and pulled away, waving a hand to silence Ayame. "Iie, iie. Every girl feels that way about somebody the guy expresses any interest in! I know how it feels!" Her face fell and she looked sheepishly at the ground. "I mean… with InuYasha and Kikyo…"

Ayame nodded. "Yeah… Koga and Sesshomaru told me about her. InuYasha was an idiot for thinking that you were an equal with Kikyo! You are _way_ better than her!"

Kagome smiled. "Arigato!"

Both girls turned towards the house, chatting happily as they walked.

Shippo squatted next to Koga, who was mumbling words like "Ow…" "Pain" and "Sleepy…"

He sighed and poked him gently. Shaking his head, he stood up. "Baka…"

* * *

InuYasha groaned, leaning against the wall, his amber eyes flickering in a glazed sickness. He didn't feel too good. Naraku, the bastard, had decided to have a little fun with him, and decided to see how well he fought in his new clay body. InuYasha had gotten a pretty good beating, but, luckily, had killed the bear yokai before anything internal had been broken.

Yasmine knelt next to him, shaking her head, her ruby lips pursed in distain. "You idiot…" she muttered, letting the soul she had been saving seep into his cold flesh. Almost instantly, InuYasha didn't feel quite so bad, but then guilt almost overwhelmed him.

His lips slipped back in a snarl as he growled, "I told you, I don't _want_ to eat souls! I'd rather be _dead_!"

Yasmine's lips pursed a bit more as she glared angrily at him. "Oh, and I suppose this boy will protect your precious Kagome while she mourns your death for the _second_ time as Naraku murders her and all of her friends and family! Oh, yes, that's _much_ better opposed to defeated Naraku! How silly of me!"

InuYasha shifted uncomfortably. He looked away indignantly and snorted, gazing at the far wall. "You don't need to be so bitchy about!"

"Listen, you!" Yasmine cried, pulling on a piece of his hair so that he was forced to whirl around and face her. "I don't really give a damn about you, or this Kagome, or my twin, or Sesshomaru, or anybody else, really. I'm not gonna lie to you! But you're the strongest that I've ever met who might, and is willing, to oppose Naraku! You think I'm gonna let my freedom be passed up? I'll tell you here and now, fucking _no_! So stop having you're little version of a pity party, stop snapping at me, and start trying to _live_! When Naraku's dead, you can go jump off a cliff for all I care, but not before! GOT IT!?"

InuYasha nodded dumbly. He had never known Kagura or Yasmine had that… amount of lungs or attitude…

Smiling almost too sweetly, Yasmine leaned back and stood up, dusting unseen dust off of her professional skirt before looking back down at the hanyou. "Well then, until we see each other again, sayonara."

Turning, she walked briskly through the door, her heels clicking against the stone floor.

InuYasha still stared wide eyed at where she had disappeared, still amazed that she had yelled at him

Finally, he sighed and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling, watching spiders try and avoid the droplets of water that dripped down into his prison as they wove their webs for unseen insects. Yep… Just add a few flowers and this place could be a hotel!

He closed his eyes and let himself get lost in memories. Hey, they were better than this version of hell.

_(A/N: Ok, I know, its short, but still, its kinda good, right? –hopeful expression- Press that nice little purple button to review and tell me what you think…)_


	13. Random Chapter

_(A/N: Eheheheh… -sweat drop- I do indeed realize that I haven't updated in a long, looooong time… and this, honestly, isn't an update… in fact, it has nothing to _do_ with the story, but nevertheless… I'm still posting it to keep the ninja's from devouring me while I sleep…_

_My only excuse is that life has been… well, life… and in fact I'm putting off doing a rough draft for Cultural Aesthetics ((ignoring the fact that I don't know how to do a rough draft the way my teacher wants us to do it!!! –growl-)) as we speak. Good news: I got a kimono, so I'm happy. Bad news: no monies for the trip to Japan now… damn… and I owe $87.50 or so to my public library and $1.29 to my school library… and my sister owes me $50, but seeing as she has $30 in the back… yeah, I don't think I'll be gettin' that any time soon, soooo… yeah_

_This fanfiction was part of a bigger project me and my friend, Chas ((A.K.A., Lunar Chasmodai)) but things… happened and she and I never finished it. I showed it to a friend not to long ago, and she liked it, so this is my life savor! Enjoy! _

_P.S. There is another chapter that has nothing to-do-but-is-slightly-funny in 'Hush Little Baby' just incase you wanted to check it out…_

_P.P.S. If you want to read the full version of this, just ask and I'll send it to you!)_

Kagome whirled around and stomped off. Both friends could almost feel the anger coming off of her in waves. InuYasha raised his head slightly and glared after her. "Damn woman…" he muttered, but Kagome seemed to have heard it as she paused for a moment. A quick glare was given to the frightened hanyou before a loud "OSUWARI!" echoed slightly in the meadow and InuYasha was back to work making a bigger crater.

Zandra was stunned speechless, but Chas wasn't! "THAT WAS SO TOTALLY FAUSOME!" she screamed, jumping up and almost trampling InuYasha. "I WANT TO DO IT TO LEVI!!!!!!!! NEXT TIME HE INSULTS ME IT'S BE A BIG 'SIT DAMN IT!'!!!!!"

Zandra gaped at her friend. Levi was a guy at school who was the bane of Chas' existence, and she and him often had fun insulting each other in third character. "Chas…" she said softly, her eyes widening slightly. "A guy is halfway to the earth's core, and you're thinking about doing the same to Levi… You frighten me and FBI agents…"

Chas gave her friend and look. "You use that term to much," she said before bolting off towards the direction of Kagome. Zandra jumped up and raced after her. InuYasha finally lifted his head and glared after the three of them. "Ow," was all he said before falling face first back into the dirt.

Finally Chas skidded to a stop behind Kagome and tapped her on the shoulder. Kagome whirled around and blinked. "H-Hai?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"How'd you do that!?" Chas asked, grinning like a maniac.

"Do what?"

"The 'SIT BOY!' trick!"

"Oh, that!" Kagome actually laughed. "It's the beads of subjugation," Kagome explained. Chas just blinked.

Kagome sighed. "You see, when ever I tell InuYasha to 'sit', he hits the ground because when we first met, he tried to kill me to get the Shikon no Tama, but Kaede-sama put prayer beads around his neck so that I could sorta harness his spirit and stuff, and told me to say a word of command, and, as you can see, the word of command was 'sit', so-"

She was cut off by a quick "Does it work in our world!?"

"Um… yeah, it does…" she said uncertainly, taking a step back with the intensity of the question.

Chas nearly jumped for joy.

Zandra finally reached them and practically collapsed, blinking stupidly as Chas pranced around Kagome. "I can say 'osuwari' to Levi! I can say 'osuwari' to Levi," she said in a rather annoying sing-song voice, with Zandra watching, feeling her eye twitch slightly. '_You've gotta be kiddin' me…_' she thought. '_Looks like Levi's gonna be dead in a few days if Chas gets her hands on some of those beads, but there's a bit more of a pressing matter at this moment…_'

With a quick, "A moment please," Zandra latched her fingers onto Chas' ear and was pulling her best friend away. Chas gave a little squeal and yipped "Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow OW!!!!!!!!!"

Zandra sighed and let go of Chas' ear, having put a good amount of distance between Kagome, and of course the smoldering remains of InuYasha. "Chas, its SOOOOOOOOO obvious! Kagome and InuYasha are in LOVE!" she practically shouted, acting as though she and Chas were in the middle of a conversation.

Chas grinned evilly, her eyes thrown wide and cackled like a maniac. Zandra gave her a look and said softly, "Chas, are you on caffeine?"

Chas just ignored the question.

"We need to meddle! I have a wonderful plan! You-"

"GOD NO!"

Chas looked up at her friend's outburst. "But… but… but why not?" she stuttered, trying her best to look hurt and give the puppy-dog-pout at the same time, failing miserably. "BeCAUSE," Zandra said, giving Chas a look and bopping her head forward at the 'CAUSE'. "Last time you desired we meddle in an affair, we got grounded for three weeks! I swear, my eyebrows have never been the same…"

"Don't be such a baby!" Chas shot back, snorting. "You're eyebrows grew back… eventually…" Chas' eyes darted from side to side, making Zandra seriously question her sanity.

Chas shook her head, her shoulder length blond hair slapping around and hitting her in the face. "But that's not the point! Our parents aren't here to ground us, and you're eyebrows won't be needed in this curtain instance! We just need to get the two together!"

Zandra sighed and cupped her head in one hand, shaking her head slightly. It slipped sideways as she let out a soft sigh. "Chas… If you feel so strongly about this, then YOU meddle, but leave ME, out of it!"

Chas growled and crossed her arms, not unlike InuYasha himself. "Fine, but when I reap all the glory from getting the two together, THEN you'll be sorry!" she said, her voice huffy as she plotted new ways to get Zandra to join in on meddling. Zandra just gave Chas a look and said before running off. "What are you, Mason?" she called from behind her shoulder, watching Chas change color in indignation.

* * *

Zandra reached Kagome. InuYasha, who had finally gotten his half dead butt over too her, had begun yelling at her. Kagome was yelling back, but suddenly turned furiously away, tears beginning to streak her cheeks. InuYasha started, obviously hearing her muffled sobs and smelling her salty tears. "Kagome," he said softly, grabbing her shoulders, twilling her around to face him. She stared up at him, her large brown eyes meeting his large amber ones, and no doubt he would've said (or at least TRIED to have said) something romantic, had not Zandra had to cough. It just wouldn't be kept in.

InuYasha and Kagome broke apart, blushing ten shades of red. Zandra smiled apologetically as Chas came in behind her, hitting her over the head and using phrases like "I swear" and "stab you with a pen" and "jugular vein"…

Zandra whirled around, her eyes narrowed dangerously just as four newcomers appeared, two shaking their heads, and one licking a rather large lollypop. Zandra and Chas stopped fighting for a moment to look at them quizzically.

Kagome jumped and smiled. "Chas-chan, Zandra-chan," she said, scuttling over to what appeared to be her friends. "This is Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, Shippo-chan, and Kirara."

Miroku smiled and took a step forward, grasping Chas' and Zandra's hands in his. Zandra and Chas exchanged a look before turning back to him. "My beautiful ladies, I would like to ask if, by any chance, you would consider bearing my childre-"

Both girls had ripped their hands out of his, Chas extracting a pen from somewhere within her clothes, Zandra raising a hand, and Sango hitting him with a giant… boomerang… Oooookay….

"WHY YOU LITTLE-" Chas screamed, beginning to stab the now toughly frightened Miroku, who was scrambling to get away. "HOW DARE YOU AS ME AND MY BEST FRIEND TO SLEEP WITH YOU… AT THE SAME TIME… AND NO DOUBT TOGETHER!!!!!"

Zandra, at this point, jumped forward, grabbing Chas and keeping her from completely _killing_ poor Miroku who lay in a bloody twitching pile as Sango had joined in with hurting him… with her boomerang.

"Chas, C-A-L-M D-O-W-N," she said, sounding each word out carefully.

Chas whirled about and shouted, "DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN BITCH!!!! I'LL CALM DOWN WHEN I WANNA CALM DOWN!!!"

Zandra just rolled her eyes and hauled Chas away from Miroku. InuYasha was rolling on the ground, laughing and clutching his stomach, and Kagome was rubbing her temples, looking like she'd be just fine with them all just disappearing, along with what appeared to be a developing migraine…


	14. The Plan and Accidents

_(A/N: Eheheh... sorry 'bout how late I am in updating this... Eheheheh... -dodges stale fruit- No don't- -runs away from angry mob- Heeelp meeeee!!_

_Also, for those who didn't like the random chapter and didn't say anything, thank you. I don't like flames, and it's good of you people to, when there's nothing nice to say, not say anything at all. To those of you who were angry at me, I'm sorry, but I had horrible writer's block and my life has been next to _hell_ at this point in time. I don't need to explain myself to you. To those who _liked_ the last chapter, I'm glad you enjoyed it. To everybody, I'm sorry I didn't update sooner, but I wanted you to know I didn't get hit by a bus. Thank you.)_

**Chapter Eleven**

**Setting the Plan into Action and Accidents**

Kagome shivered, clutching her arms, her fingers convulsing over the light material as she looked out from the car, dispassionately watching Tokyo flit by.

A hand gently touched her shoulder and Kagome jumped. Itaru smiled encouragingly at her. "Calm down," he mouthed and Kagome gave a sharp nod.

She had been on edge since the trip began. Everybody, in fact, had been on edge since the trip began. Sesshomaru sat in the front, staring ahead, his face as stoic as it had ever been in the Sengoku Jidai, though with a bit more ice. Shippo gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles slowly turning white as the plastic, wood, and leather groaned softly beneath his fingers. They felt it too.

Something was going to go wrong.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Kagome shifted uncomfortably in her seat, looking back out the window. Grey buildings faded into houses, houses faded into various plant-life, and the various plant-life faded into trees. Still their car trumlbed on, uncaringly ignoring everything but the road.

Suddenly, Shippo jerked the steering wheel to the side. Everybody began screaming (except for Sesshomaru who just gripped the door, even as his hair looked like it was strangling him) and falling in on one another. Lucky ol' Kagome found herself squashed against the door, Itaru, Shigeatsu and Hanaka pressed against her.

Finally the car shuddered to a stop on the side of the road. Everybody in the back seat groaned loudly and one could almost hear Koga laughing his ass off outside.

"I _bet_ he knew this would happen!" Hanaka grumbled angrily. "Bastard, insisting that he run with Ayame and his precious wolves… just didn't want to get his brains bashed out by Shippo's damn driving."

Kagome had to agree as she pulled the door handle and ended up squashed, once again, between something and her three friends.

"Shigeatsu," Itaru said lowly, almost growling. "That hand better be an accident."

Shigeatsu made an "Oh God!" and did his best to stumble away, Hanaka still on top of him.

"Now is not the time for fooling around, humans," Sesshomaru said, his voice dripping with ice. He was dressed just as Kagome remembered him, poofy pants and all. "Get up, and let's get going."

There were some grumbles, but nobody dared mess with this kind of Sesshomaru. Itaru had never seen anybody, no less Sesshomaru, this condescending and icy. When he had spoken to Kagome about it, she had given him a wry smile and replied "It's hard for me to view him any other way."

* * *

­Silently, all of them crept over the wall of Naraku's mansion. He had just 'happened' to inherit it from one of his clients when the poor man had been murdered in his home. It didn't take long for anybody to figure out what had truly happened.

They all knew their places, they all knew their jobs, they all knew their teams. No splitting up, no fooling around, and always stay with the other person. Nothing, absolutely _nothing_ could go wrong with the plan. But as Itaru and Kagome broke off in a different direction than Shippo and Sesshomaru, Hanaka and Shigeatsu, and Koga and Ayame, Kagome felt like screaming. She had to fine InuYasha, now.

* * *

"Kagome," Itaru said, turning. He was met with air. Kagome wasn't with him anymore. It had taken her less then 10 seconds to leave him.

"Damn it," he swore angrily, whirling around. They had been given the easiest job; cut the power. If Kagome just _had_ to find InuYasha _that_ badly, then _fine_! Fuck her. He could do the job on his own.

* * *

­She shouldn't have separated herself from Itaru. He'd be furious with her.

As Kagome padded silently down the hallway, her eyes flashing into windows and empty doorways, Kagome sighed softly. He'd get over it. He'd understand. She knew he would.

Gently, she looked into a doorway and shook her head. Nothing. Was there a single room in this house that had _any_ furniture? Even a chair?

Probably not. Naraku liked to screw with people heads like that. If somebody got lost, they wouldn't be able to tell one room from another. They'd probably go insane before ever finding a single exit. Ever.

Kagome sighed again (it seemed like a new, unpleasant habit of hers lately) and turned to go. Suddenly, something crashed into her from the side, sending her flying into a wall, the scream ripped out of her lungs.

She was going to die. Kami, she was going to die and she knew it.

* * *

InuYasha looked up as, for the first time, Naraku entered his cell alone. A small sneer curved his lips. "Well well well, I've got some news for you. And you'll be the _first_ to know!"

His claws carved small holes in his palms as InuYasha clenched his fists, a snarl itching in his throat. "What is it, Naraku?"

Naraku took a few more steps from the stairs and grinned down at the hanyou. "I just wanted you to know. Kagome's dead."

There was no pause, no emotion besides slight glee at being the bearer of news. Nothing. But it was enough to break something inside InuYasha. Something was screaming, but everything was silent. His heart had stopped pumping what it thought was blood through his veins. Everything… just _everything_ stopped with those two words.

"Do you want the details?" Naraku asked, noting InuYasha's slumped shoulders, his eyes stretched wide, horror and such pain etched across his face. He didn't need an answer. "The person I sent to retrieve young Kagome and her companions and bring them to me found her separated from the group and ambushed her. A surprise attack, but it worked well enough. Pinned her against a wall and broke a couple of ribs, part of her shoulder blade, and a shin. Internal bleeding in the lungs as well. Ah, yes… Little Kagome was also stabbed in the stomach. I'm surprised she managed to stay conscious though-out the entire thing! It must've been horrible to feel the stomach acids eating away at her own skin. But, at the very last, the yokai ripped her heart out and showed it to her, eating it in front of poor Kagome."

InuYasha was shaking with suppressed rage. Tears burned at the edges of his eyes as he fought back to keep from sobbing. Not in front of Naraku. Never. His fangs bit into his lips as he fought desperately to keep from screaming or downright breaking down.

Naraku knelt by InuYasha who refused to look the sick fuck in the eyes. "And the worst part is this: he was a shape-shifting demon and wore your disguise, just like I did with Kikyo."

InuYasha's entire body fell limp. This wasn't possible. It just was _not_ possible. Kagome couldn't-

"Would you like to avenge her?"

InuYasha snapped his head up, surprised. "Wh-why would y-you wa-ant me to kill one-one of your own men?" he half hiccupped half snarled.

A small, evil smile replaced Naraku's sneer. "Because, the yokai in question's orders were to bring Kagome to me, not to kill her. She was supposed to be used as leverage; to be kept alive and relatively healthy in body. But the yokai disobeyed me and killed her. To be in charge, one must show whose boss. But you, _you_ will provide a nice, long, drawn out death of the worst kind of pain to the yokai. One more painful than even I can give it. A yokai avenging or protecting its mate is one dangerous thing. So… would you like that opportunity?"

InuYasha narrowed his eyes, but nodded slowly. Naraku grinned and stood up, slapping his leg. "Well then! Let's go! The battle will begin in five minutes time. I hope you'll be ready!" With a grin and an uncharacteristic skip, Naraku was gone.

Claws now slippery in his own blood, and blood welling up from the bite marks at his lower lip, InuYasha curled in around himself, sobs shaking his body. One word was the only thing able to escape from his mouth. "Ka-Kagome…"

When Yasmine came to fetch him, he stared dispassionately at her. She cringed. He seemed dead already…


End file.
